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Trends Dispensaries will open the biggest legal cannabis dispensary in Queens' Long Island City neighborhood sometime within the next three months.
Trends Dispensaries will open the biggest legal cannabis dispensary in Queens’ Long Island City neighborhood sometime within the next three months.
The business will occupy a 6,000-square-foot space, located at 27-25 44th Drive, that includes a 4,000-square-foot retail store and a 2,000-square-foot event space.
“We like the neighborhood not only because we live in the community and know this community, but also because there is not as much as competition as far as illegal stores,” Trends co-owner Rodney Carter Jr. told the New York Business Journal. “In Long Island City, when we were looking for locations, we only found two to three illegal stores in the entire area.”
Trends marks Long Island City’s second cannabis dispensary after NYC Bud opened a 3,000-square-foot space in mid-February.
Trends’ location is “fully surrounded and insulated by federal-backed mortgaged buildings,” Carter said, “meaning that no other legal dispensaries could even move into one of the buildings that are anywhere near us.”
He and his brother Brandon Carter are behind Trends, which stands for “the real experience needs different stories.”
The pair, who have been arrested for marijuana-related offenses in New York City, received their license to sell cannabis in New York in April of 2023. As fate would have it, that same month Rodney Carter was arrested for marijuana possession while on a 24-hour layover in Dubai on his way back to New York.
“So I got a license to sell cannabis in New York and I got banned from Dubai in the same month,” he said.
Trends’ broker, Ripco’s Eric Fisher, introduced the business to Housing Works Cannabis Co., which later invested in the dispensary and became part owners of it.
“We found the location before partnering with Housing Works,” Carter Jr. said. “We were the first licensee that they partnered with. They backed us as far as the guarantor for the location and helped us with the build-out.”
Housing Works has also assisted cannabis dispensaries Matawana and Bliss + Lex with their openings.
Due to delays related to store installations, Trends’ soft opening is scheduled for April 4 and its grand opening is expected to take place four to six weeks later.
The brothers plan to use the event space for activities such as art exhibitions, comedy shows, elevated yoga experiences, and even British and Chinese tea party experiences.
“We like to say we are at the intersection where sophistication meets wellness,” Carter said. “Our store is going to be catered more towards holistic wellness and well-being.”
The store will sell cannabis products such as flower, edibles, vapes and concentrates that range from $25 to $65.
Trends is in “a densely populated area with high traffic and high net-worth individuals,” he added. “There are a lot of people who use the flower in some form or fashion as well as a lot of people who are curious about using it.”
The dispensary will start with 11 employees.
The lease is for 15 years. Asking rent was $80 per square foot.
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Trends to open Long Island City's biggest cannabis dispensary – New York Business Journal – The Business Journals
