Red Bank's first legal marijuana store just about ready for grand opening
Editor's Note: Monteverde NJ's new grand opening for recreational marijuana sale will take place on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 10:30 a.m. Doors will open at 11 a.m. with pizza from CG Pizza.
RED BANK - In Elizabeth Egan’s 24 years working as a physical therapy assistant, she has seen many patients who were in pain. Many had medical issues that prevented them from taking medications.
“I started back then to say, ‘There’s got to be a better alternative,’” Egan remembered.
Egan, a Toms River resident, is now one of the founders of Monteverde NJ, a boutique cannabis dispensary at 45 North Bridge Ave. in Red Bank, the first marijuana store to open its doors in town since the drug was fully legalized in the state.
The dispensary opened its doors to medical marijuana patients this past December, the first legal cannabis dispensary in Red Bank. That same month, the dispensary received approval by the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission to expand into the recreational marijuana market.
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Egan said her team is planning on a grand opening for all cannabis customers, both medical and recreational, from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17.
The dispensary currently sells dried flower, pre-rolls, edibles, concentrates and vape cartridges, according to Brad Shelly, general manager of operations. While the store will open to all customers, medical marijuana patients will have priority if lines begin to form. Customers are encouraged to order online and pick up their products at the store.
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Shelly, who has helped launch four cannabis dispensaries in Maryland and Washington, D.C., said the store carries both products from established cannabis companies and newly formed local producers.
Egan, who has caught crabs off the Navesink River in Red Bank since she was 7, said she envisioned her dispensary as one with a personalized touch that fits in with the borough’s small-town feel.
Shelly estimates that 60% of the company’s customers know exactly what they want, while 40% of customers will browse the menu at the store.
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Shelly said the dispensary takes an effects-based approach instead of simply focusing on the amount of THC in a product.
“What are you looking to kind of treat? How are you looking to feel?” He said.
New Jersey legalized medical marijuana in 2010, but only a handful of dispensaries were allowed to operate. When other states began to legalize cannabis, she started talking with other members of the industry. Through a mutual friend, Egan met Devin Liles of Boulder, Colorado, in 2018.
While studying marriage and family therapy in graduate school, Liles got his start in the cannabis industry in California in the early 2000s.
He then directed a vertically integrated cannabis company in Colorado called The Farm that had its own production facilities and retail store.
While Egan had the dream of opening a dispensary in New Jersey, Liles provided the know-how.
“It’s definitely been an experience for me and the team,” Egan said.
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In the late 2010s, New Jersey began to lift medical marijuana restrictions.
Egan and Liles applied to the state for a medical marijuana license and were approved in 2019. When their original plan of opening a medical dispensary in Asbury Park fell through, they decided to look into opening a store in Red Bank.
“I think everybody knew at that time that recreational was on the horizon,” Liles said. “But our original license award was for medical only.”
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That same year, Egan was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She said she takes medicinal cannabis for sleeping and pain management.
Then in 2021, the sale of recreational cannabis in New Jersey legalized.
“It’s about time,” Egan said. “I hope this goes through every state.”
Egan said she hopes more doctors and patients are willing to include cannabis in their list of options to explore.
“We’re just excited to finally be at this point,” Shelly said. “Finally open our doors to the whole public.”
Olivia Liu is a reporter covering transportation, Red Bank and western Monmouth County. She can be reached at oliu@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ legal weed: Monteverde NJ readies for grand opening in Red Bank
