BINGHAMTON, NY – Preparations are underway for the possibility of large crowds as the first legal marijuana dispensary in Upstate New York prepares to open next Friday in Binghamton.
Just Breathe, located at 75 Court Street, tells NewsChannel 34 that it is planning to open on Friday, February 10th.
The store has already lined up product from New York State cultivators and processors.
CEO Damien Cornwell says it will sell 10 different strands of flower, and a wide variety of pre-rolls, vapes, tinctures, edibles and THC seltzers.
Upon arrival, customers will be greeted by a host in a queue room where they will need to show I-D.
They can then enter the adjacent store to make purchases from the business’s “budtenders.”
Just Breathe will be only the third legal dispensary to open in the state, following 2 in New York City.
Based on their success so far, Cornwell expects a big turnout next Friday.
CEO Damien Cornwell says, “It’s been a long time since we’ve had industry that caused a lot of excitement in this town. I think back to the heyday of IBM and some of the other places, decades and decades ago, so I’m really looking forward to the impact and potentiality of what we’re doing here at Just Breathe for Binghamton in general.”
Just Breathe received its license because it has a qualifying non-profit partner, the Broome County Urban League.
Cornwell says that with the assistance of the Urban League, he plans to hire people of color and members of other disadvantaged communities in order to satisfy the law’s social justice requirements.
Cornwell acknowledges that he will be a competitive disadvantage against the established, but illegal, sticker shops that have proliferated in our area because he will be paying taxes and a higher price for his marijuana.
But he says his products will be lab-tested for safety and he hopes to appeal to customers who aren’t comfortable breaking the law.
Damien Cornwell says, “We’ll dot our i’s and cross our t’s, make sure we offer a valued product where there’s no question, and hopefully win over those folks so it becomes an issue where they like the brand, and they like the product and it doesn’t matter where they get it from as long as they’re happy. And here at Just Breathe, we aim to make them happy.”
Another Binghamton resident, William Durham, also received a Southern Tier dispensary license.
He tells NewsChannel 34 that he has been approved to open a store called WilliamJane on the Ithaca Commons.
Cornwell says he’s in the process of updating his website, JustBreatheLife.org, so that it lists the THC products and customers can pre-order.
He expects delivery service to begin on February 17th.
Just Breathe, which has sold C-B-D products for the past year and a half, and will continue to do so, will close next week in preparation.
Once reopened, hours will be Monday through Wednesday from noon to 8, Thursdays and Saturdays noon to 9 and Fridays noon to 10.
