2nd Retail Marijuana Shop Seeks To Open In Secaucus

SECAUCUS, NJ — A second pot shop is currently looking to open in Secaucus.

A marijuana business called Floro Secaucus LLC would like to open in town, Mayor Mike Gonnelli confirmed Wednesday.

Floro Secaucus is a retail marijuana business, and they would sell pot directly to the public (as marijuana is legal in the state of New Jersey).

According to the Hudson Reporter, Floro seeks to open at 900 Castle Road, which is the warehouse building currently home to a pet cremation business and a casket company, pictured above. It is not immediately known what would happen to those two businesses.

Floro has applied for a retail license from the town of Secaucus to sell recreational marijuana.

It has not yet been approved for that license, said Gonnelli this week.

If approved by the town, Floro would open directly across the street from Secaucus' existing marijuana shop, Harmony Dispensary.

On Dec. 20, Floro made a special presentation before the Local Cannabis Control Board, which is a relatively new task force of town officials tasked with supervising all marijuana-related business in Secaucus.

The Board's three members are Secaucus Police Chief Dennis Miller, Town Administrator Gary Jeffas and Secaucus town attorney Keri Ann Eglentowicz.

Gonnelli said he did not know the outcome of that Dec. 20 meeting.

Jeffas and Eglentowicz did not return a request from Patch for comment.

Last March, Secaucus town council opened the doors to new pot business applications

It was last March that the Secaucus town Council, at the behest of Mayor Gonnelli, decided to allow more recreational pot businesses — in addition to Harmony — to apply to open in town.

Their vote ended this prohibition that same council passed in 2018, which banned recreational pot shops in town.

It was a controversial decision, as the Council — which usually votes in lockstep with Gonnelli — had three members who voted "no:" Councilwoman Orietta Tringali, Councilman Jim Clancy and Councilman Bill McKeever were all initially against the idea of more marijuana businesses, although McKeever later changed his mind.

Tringali, a retired Secaucus elementary teacher, explained her reasoning last March:

"We already have a vaping problem in schools. Now we are putting legal pot on them," she said at the time. "I know you have to be 21 to legally buy (pot) in New Jersey, but I'm just worried. I really think about the kids, all the youth. I'm concerned about them. Marijuana can really impact brain development in young people."

Gonnelli maintains marijuana businesses in Secaucus will bring in thousands of dollars in tax revenue, if not millions:

"I'm not for marijuana at all," said Gonnelli last spring. "But it's really a financial decision. Harmony brings in over $400,000 in taxes a year and I'm going to estimate we're going to get over a million, guaranteed (from recreational pot stores) ... A few years ago, marijuana was not legal. But now it is. The bottom line is, it's here to stay. It's not going away. It's expensive to operate this town. It costs money to run this town, to keep things like the pool free. And costs are going up."

In part to ease some concerns, the town created a very limited zone in which marijuana businesses can operate: The zone is five lots in that area of Castle Road.

That is where Floro would open.

"We limited the area where a cannabis business can operate to five lots in the light industrial area of town, which is where Harmony currently operates," said town administrator Jeffas last March.

Harmony approved by state to now sell recreational weed

Also in December, Harmony Dispensary finally got state approval to sell marijuana to all consumers, and not just those with medical marijuana cards.

Before December, Harmony had a license from the state to sell marijuana to medical patients only.

However, Harmony has not yet started retail sales to all, said a spokesman for the pot shop.

In the fall of 2022, Harmony applied to sell weed to all and was initially rejected by the state, something Harmony president and CEO Shaya Brodchandel said at the time was "inexplicable" and "a needless delay."

Secaucus May Allow Add'l Pot Shops To Open Around Harmony (March 2022)

Secaucus Town Council Bans Recreational Marijuana Sales In Town (2018)