The Long Island Cannabis Club (LICC) of Deer Park held its grand opening on Friday, Dec. 6th.
The celebratory balloons are not being packed away just yet, though, as they plan to host another ceremony this coming week to commemorate the launches of their website, delivery service and limited holiday-time gift basket offerings.
The 4,2000-square-foot location at 94 East Industry Court is sure to be the latest hotbed destination for those who have, or will come to adopt “pot” as their virtue.
Following the statewide legalization of marijuana in regulation, and after enduring two years worth of the application rigmarole, the ownership group behind the island’s latest retail cannabis store is as relieved to finally be in business as they are to shatter lingering stigmas.
Partners at LICC include Leslie Rodriguez, a licensed massage therapist and former retail manager, and Anthony Augustino Traina, an operating engineer, dog rescuer and French bulldog breeder.
The pair were kind enough to lend The South Shore Press a Friday night tour of their facilities a week into their operation.
Rodriguez commended fellow partners of theirs, such as pro athlete clientele-wielding acupuncturist Lisa Ripy, for wearing multiple hats across infinite rounds of out-of-store galvanizing and in-store team-building. Rodriguez and Traina also each have doting relatives of theirs on staff—signifying a classic value kept alive to satisfy the modern-day customer and workflow alike.
LICC’s foremost mission: to bring the greater community together under one grand unifying commonality: “the plant.”
Route 27 grows, cultivates, and supplies LICC with its product—some from the Hudson Valley, and most else from Long Island, including the Long Island brand, “Wahoo Forest.”
Qualifying for a more ideal license due to being part of a woman-owned business prior, Rodriguez, Ripy and Company have not missed a beat while given the go to unload their conditionally required convictions. “We are here to provide an alternative adult-use recreational means of unwinding and relaxing,” said Rodriguez.
For those who do not smoke, cannabis-certified relaxation by way of LICC can come in the form of a “gummy” or other candies, or through an infused drink. Rodriguez touts multiple products of theirs that can captivate one on levels ranging from “discrete” to profound.”
When asked about their contact with fellow dispensaries who may have more skin in the game duration-wise, or organizations with broad mental, physical, and spiritual health crossover, Rodriguez adamantly stresses “collaboration over competition.”
For every purchase in-store, “3 percent” goes to municipal efforts such as a recovery and rehabilitation facility in Amityville.
“This is not just something to ‘get high.’ This is something that can really help you on a mental health level, with anxiety and depression, nerve radiculopathy, muscle rigidity, muscle spasms and ADD," said Rodriguez. "It helps sedate your body when you alone can’t do it.”
“Sometimes, it’s very hard for people to unwind,” Rodriguez adds. “They are wound tight. Us on Long Island? We are ‘hustle and bustle.’ A certain type of relaxation and downtime—that is not going to be on a chemically dependent level—is something we’ve definitely been needing here.”
As of last week, Long Island locals have another “above board” option to turn to; if last week’s turnout is any indication, more impromptu network events are on the way.
"There’s a new wave of people who don’t want to go to a bar,” said Rodriguez. “This is a new era and culture for socialization."
At Long Island Cannabis Club, no one is turned down, or left out; only lifted up and empowered from within.
“This is community,” said Rodriguez. “We just want this equitable program to be rolled out as efficiently as New York State promises.”
Long Island Cannabis Store joins Strain Stars of Farmingdale and Beleaf of Calverton among the cannabis dispensaries that opened this month. Farmingdale also is home to the popular dispensary, “Happy Days.” The Brooklyn-originated Beleaf also intends to open its third location in Medford at some point during the new year.