Gotham Buds opened doors—to those age 21 and older—this past Wednesday, Oct. 18, marking the first time a legal marijuana dispensary operated in Harlem. The state-licensed retailer is located on 125th Street across from the Apollo Theater.
Inside, the shelves and glass displays are lined with neatly-packaged cannabis products branded with puns like “Weed the People.” Several digital kiosks installed throughout the shop allowed detailed buying, not unlike electronics or car shopping. But instead of make and model, the terminals delineated the strengths and effects of each weed strain. And there was a DJ spinning tracks by one of the checkouts.
Before the inaugural business day, Gotham Buds was joined by the New York State Office of Cannabis Management (OCM NY) to celebrate the shop’s opening.
“This is historic and being across the street from the Apollo is a beautiful thing,” said OCM NY executive director Chris Alexander. “It’s also a beautiful thing to have a Black business—a Black cannabis business—be the first cannabis business in Harlem.”
The dispensary opens following lawsuit-driven delays due to both local and statewide resistance. Gotham Buds’ leadership team noted the arduous journey, but looked forward.
“We’re here to make sure you consume more, consume more intelligently,” said co-founder Omar Tejada. “And we want to provide you options you didn’t even know you had. So Gotham is going to be here, we want to remain here.”
This past August, Manhattan Community Board 10 in Harlem lent conditional support to the opening of Gotham Buds if the dispensary provided regular quarterly updates to its Economic Development Committee and prioritized hiring local residents, especially those “adversely affected by harmful cannabis-related laws.” Other stipulations and suggestions included diversity measures in hiring and security detail, along with collaboration with legacy Harlem institutions on the street like the Apollo Theater, 125th Business Improvement District, and the Studio Museum.
The Board’s involvement was recommended by the judge who tossed a lawsuit against the dispensary’s location 500 feet from private university Touro College, which provides programming for high schoolers.
So what’s next for Gotham Buds after finally opening? Co-owner and communications director Malika Bellamy told the Amsterdam News that the goal is to be more than just cannabis.
“Gotham Buds to the world baby, that’s my slogan today and everyday,” she said. “We hope to continue scaling the business. We’re looking forward to expanding, adding to our staff, creating some incredible entrepreneurship programs, community programs that benefit our youth. Just continue to be an example—other partnerships, our apparel is evolving. Because we’re a brand, we’re not just cannabis, we are truly a brand.
“We have cannabis as our core, but we have apparel, we have our music network as well, where we’re giving aspiring artists opportunities to showcase their art and their work. So just expanding on that and continuing to bring out the best in the world.”
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member and writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.