Montclair Dispensary Announces Plans To Start Selling Weed To Public

MONTCLAIR, NJ — A medical marijuana dispensary in Montclair is expected to begin recreational cannabis sales on Friday, the company said.

Earlier this week, Ascend Wellness that it expects to begin selling adult-use cannabis at its Montclair store on Aug. 19, pending approval by the township.

The Montclair Town Council gave Ascend a final greenlight during its meeting on Tuesday (watch the video below). The council also approved a settlement agreement with the company, which can be seen here.

The town will get 2 percent tax for recreational cannabis sales, as permitted under state law.

There have been some speedbumps in the pathway to recreational sales in Montclair for Ascend Wellness, which bought Greenleaf Compassion Center at 395 Bloomfield Avenue in 2020.

In April, Ascend told Patch that it expected to be able to sell adult-use cannabis products at its Montclair location later this year, after the town finalizes its plans for adult-use sales. The Montclair Town Council authorized a resolution of support to Ascend to expand into recreational sales on May 3.

• See related article: Montclair Dispensary Gets OK To Sell Recreational Cannabis

Even though recreational sales in Montclair were approved by the state in late May, Ascend was left waiting for final local approval from the township. But that didn’t stop it from opening up to the public for recreational sales anyway in June – for a very brief time.

• See related article: Montclair Dispensary Briefly Sells To Public, Then Stops: Report

ASCEND SPREADS ITS WINGS IN NEW JERSEY

Ascend Wellness started adult-use sales at its Rochelle Park dispensary on April 21, with store sales reaching as high as $1.25 million in a single week, according to its second quarter financial results.

Soon afterwards, the company opened its Fort Lee dispensary for medical sales. Recreational sales are expected to begin there in the fall.

Ascend Wellness has added 4,000 square feet of canopy in New Jersey, for a total of 20,000 square feet of canopy in the state and 217,000 square feet overall. It now operates 22 dispensaries across the United States.

“We are pleased with our financial performance for the quarter, with upwards of 15% revenue growth and operating leverage which drove a 220 basis point increase in Adjusted EBITDA margins,” CEO Abner Kurtin said.

“The key driver of these results was the commencement of adult-use sales at our Rochelle Park, New Jersey dispensary, one of the top performing stores in the state,” Kurtin said. “Ascend is extremely well positioned to benefit from adult-use sales in New Jersey, because of our attractive collection of assets combined with high operating leverage given our focused portfolio.”

• See related article: NJ Marijuana Sales Update: 'Market Is Improving,' Official Says
• See related article: $2M Of Weed: NJ Sees More Than 12K Customers On First Day Of Sales

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