Perhaps fittingly, what is likely to be the second cannabis dispensary in New Paltz, is setting up shop in the former location of the Groovy Blueberry.
Lisa Barone and Michael Nelson, the owners of the Herbal Confectionery came before the Village of New Paltz Planning Board earlier this month to discuss their plans for a dispensary at 3 Water Street, possibly opening in mid-June. Barone and Nelson already opened Windfall Farms Community Market, a non-cannabis community farm store, at the same location on Friday, April 19.
At the planning board meeting held on Tuesday, April 2, Barone and Nelson discussed their deliberate, multi-tiered plans.
“We understand that opening a cannabis business is a delicate nature,” said Barone. “And the fact that the state is so new in the rollout of these laws, we want to ensure that we’re not only complying, but we’re able to continue to pivot as those laws keep building out.”
The first stage, Windfall Farms Community Market, sees full-time farmers Barone and Nelson selling their own products alongside others.
“We grow over 500 varieties of produce, flowers, herbs and vegetables,” Barone said at the meeting. “Along with 14 other farmers that are part of this, we are opening a store where those products are solely made by the farmer, produced by the farmer and being sold by the farmer.”
The second stage is the dispensary. In an email to Hudson Valley One, Barone explained where the Herbal Confectionery was in the process, why they came before the planning board, and when they plan to return.
“At this time we are still working through providing full site plans to present to the village planning board, and are hoping to be at the (April) 30 meeting, depending on if our professionals can work fast enough,” Barone said. “We intend to be a positive and community-forward addition to the gateway district. At this time we are within our buildout phase, and will be working closely to provide proper plans to the village board as we receive guidance from the state.”
The Herbal Confectionery received one of the first 26 adult-use cannabis micro-business licenses issued by New York State, and they are awaiting guidance from the state Office of Cannabis Management as they inch closer to opening their retail dispensary. Barone is part of two inaugural initiatives: As a women-owned business in the SEE (Social and Economic Equity) program, and the CCTM (Cannabis Compliance Training & Mentorship) program.
“I went through their entire program that basically tells us all of its safety, compliance, strategy, building out and everything that you can do with safely building a cannabis business in New York State,” said Barone during a recent planning board meeting. It was there that she elaborated upon the limitations of a micro-business cannabis retail license.
“We are not a large scale retailer,” Barone said. “We cannot buy other people’s products and resell them, we can only sell what we are making ourselves. We have the allowance to do each part of the supply chain, so we can grow cannabis on our farm, we can produce it into flower products such as pre-rolls, smokeable flower, live resin. We can also take it and process it into gummies, candies, tinctures, topicals, any type of cannabis product that you would think of. We can also distribute it ourselves as well as we can retail ourselves.”
While Barone and Nelson focus on Windfall Farms Community Market and the future of the Herbal Confectionery, there is a third tier they hope to achieve at 3 Water Street at some point.
“Even further in the future is an Amsterdam style consumption lounge, however I cannot provide details or dates for that yet, as the state laws have not been placed into effect,” said Barone. “For now we focus on our farm store and our dispensary.”
Windfall Farms Community Market is open Thursday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday 12 to 6 p.m., Saturday 12 to 6 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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