Fort Lee's new marijuana dispensary ready to serve city, and New Yorkers
New Jersey's 21st recreational marijuana dispensary opened to the public this week, with the official grand opening in Fort Lee set for Saturday.
Ascend Wellness is located less than 3 miles from the George Washington Bridge on West Street, which will be easy for New York commuters, said Mike Conway, the company's regional vice president of retail.
"It's really important to be so close to New York it would be silly not to take advantage of that," Conway said. "It's a great opportunity to grow our business and know we have a great system in place to have quick, easy and great service."
Ascend's other New Jersey locations are in Rochelle Park, which started recreational sales in April and Montclair, which started sales in August.
Ascend opened its doors in Fort Lee in August for medical marijuana use. Thursday's soft launch for recreational sales was to stress test the system that was used to serving under 100 customers a day to potentially thousands.
"We are so excited to have our last New Jersey location fully open to the public," Conway said on Friday. "Yesterday was really good. It exceeded my expectations."
To help be "good neighbors" Ascend Fort Lee will have an appointment-only model for the first 30 days to ensure it is handling parking and traffic appropriately, Conway said. In Rochelle Park, some initial concerns were about traffic lines building up on Route 17, but that never happened.
However, Conway said, the appointment model shouldn't deter any newcomers. He said if anyone has questions, just to add an item in their cart, make the appointment and they will get the one-on-one experience that Ascend is known for, and someone will answer any questions and find the best product for them.
Fort Lee's location is expecting a heavy commuter presence and has more retail floor space, 6,000 square feet, and more registers than its Rochelle Park and Montclair counterparts. Conway said the store is 20% bigger and has 29 registers versus Rochelle Park's 23.
Ascend Wellness Holdings has 29 stores across six states, and Rochelle Park was one of the company's largest earners last quarter, Conway said. Last quarter's sales project $57 million a year, which is expected to grow, according to Conway. Towns that are home to facilities collect 2% on recreational marijuana sales.
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"We're elated to have all three locations finally open and pumped to be open so close to New York and the George Washington Bridge," Conway said. "It will make it easier for people to get here and can be in and out on a commuter drive within five minutes."
Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich said any marijuana dispensary wouldn't be able to operate in Fort Lee unless it was "top notch."
Sokolich said he visited the Rochelle Park and Montclair locations several times while hearings were ongoing and said they emphasized the importance of security and efficiency to avoid traffic.
"We're excited to have that service in town," he said. "We welcome them and hope it works out. Everything we've asked them to do, they didn't question and did it and, in some instances, went above and beyond of what we asked of them."
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ legal marijuana: Ascend Wellness opens in Fort Lee
