Incredible hype: New Yorkers line up for hours to buy marijuana

Demand at New York City's first legal recreational marijuana store is wild and unabated. Customers start lining up almost two hours before the outlet opens. Read more about this publication NY Daily News.

On the second day of the store opening, we even had to add additional staff to cope with the influx of customers, even two new cash desks were opened. But visitors still reported 90-minute waiting times at the front door.

To enter the store on Broadway at E. 8th St. in the East Village, people lined up around Astor Place.

Representatives of the Housing Works Cannabis Co. stated that on the first day, December 29, they served over 500 people and delayed the closing of the store by more than an hour.

“We have been working tirelessly for several weeks to be fully prepared for the demand,” said Sasha Nutgent, retail manager at the city's first legal marijuana store.

“This is a historic moment for New Yorkers, visitors and the cannabis industry as a whole. We are grateful to our partners for providing safe and reliable products. We hope to continue to meet the demand,” she said.

On the subject: In New York, there are secret dinners where marijuana is added to every dish.

Representatives confirmed that customers who did not have time to buy everything on December 29 did not have priority to enter on the second day. The store is working on rolling out pre-order and delivery services to help with queues.

Housing Works Cannabis Co. offers products from six suppliers. It plans to expand its lineup to 30 suppliers within a few months depending on lab results, said Charles King, CEO of Housing Works.

As the state ramps up its bona fide recreational cannabis market, many gray market locations have spread across the city, with many in Chelsea and the Upper West Side.

Many offer discounted prices and put completely legal places at risk of losing business when the novelty of legal weed disappears or other pharmacies open.

“I feel like the Cannabis Authority is keeping its word to reduce the number of illegal competitors and we had a chance,” King admitted and assured that consumers can trust their products.

Eight non-profit organizations are eligible for licenses, as well as dozens of individual operators, for a total of 36 licenses statewide.

Another licensee may open a few blocks from Housing Works. Doe Fund, a non-profit organization that aims to reduce criminal recidivism, has applied for a site near Union Square on Broadway, according to public documents.

"What we're really confident about is that it's a regulated product," said Dr. Sheryl Wu, physician and vice president of the community council's cannabis licensing committee. “We asked them a bunch of questions about how they would check age and ID.”

A neighborhood community council is reviewing an application to open a store from non-profit organization STRIVE in the East Village.

“Some of them were turned down,” City Council member Carlina Rivera said of applications for a marijuana business. Others were asked to "rethink things like layout".

“Regulatory compliance is at the core of every location and every display case,” she explained. “We want to do it right.”