East Village New Deli Corp., located next door to Ray’s Candy Store, on Avenue A near Seventh Street, was permanently closed on Sat., Oct. 21.
A large sign in the window read “Smoke Shop,” with an image of a marijuana leaf. But it was unknown if the smoke shop hadn’t opened yet or was also already closed. The place was known to sell cannabis on the down low in the past.
On Monday, though, the place’s doors were back open. It’s yet another new unlicensed pot shop — one of the estimated several thousand that the city and state can’t seem to get a handle on.
There are currently only a total of 11 licensed adult-recreational pot dispensaries for the entire Big Apple. New York’s already-slow rollout of the state-sanctioned stores has been bogged down even further by a flurry of mounting lawsuits.
Meanwhile, as for Ray’s, it sells all kinds of things, from fried Oreos and cheese fries to chili dogs and chocolate-vanilla twirl soft-serve ice cream — but not pot. As Ray, who is known for his hearty “Hellooo, brother!” greeting, might say, “Noooo, brother!”
It wasn’t immediately clear what the new weed store’s name is. Maybe the Used-To-Be a Panini Pot Shop?
I don’t understand the NYS regulation that doesn’t let you smell the flower in the licensed pot shops. What’s the rationale for that?? To me, smell is really important in choosing a variety, besides knowing the type of weed, THC level and breakdown in terpenes. Smell tells me, this is the bud for me! Can you sniff in the “Flower Lounge”? Great idea to partner with the DOE Fund! So your pot $$ goes to a good cause, and also NYS farmers!