We Went to EVERY Unlicensed Weed Shop in NYC’s Lower East Side

At the dawn of legal recreational sales, Cash Only spent a night visiting every single bodega, smoke shop, grey market dispensary, and exotic snacks purveyor in downtown Manhattan — well over two dozen stores that sell green between Houston Street and Broome Street.

Thursday, December 29th marked the opening of NYC's first licensed dispensaries, starting with Housing Works (stay tuned for our doc on that!), and it's only a matter of time until these underground shops are neighbors with the "official" ones.

We wanted to talk to the people who run these not-so-clandestine spots about their businesses and get their thoughts on what to expect in 2023.

Are they expecting crackdowns? Will the new legal competition make it harder to survive? What type of weed do New Yorkers like best?

Along the way, we made some buds at shops like Empire Cannabis Club, Granny Za's, NYC Exotic Snacks, and more.

Watch the video and stay tuned for more neighborhood-specific weed shop tours in the very near future.