Cannabis Dispensary Coming to George Street in New Brunswick

Puffin, a small New Jersey-based company whose applications to dispense cannabis has been approved by New Brunswick and the state through the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission, will be opening its first location in the city.

The dispensary, which will set up inside the former Verizon store at 382 George St., is hoping to open its doors by late spring.

Puffin, whose sly word-play name conjures images of a long drag on a joint or pipe, but uses the bright-nosed seabird as a corporate logo, will likely count its fair share of Rutgers students among its clientele. 

However, spokesman Anthony Feliciano said the company also anticipates Puffin will draw professionals from Johnson & Johnson and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, along with workers from the downtown’s many bars and restaurants.

One of the things that will set Puffin apart from other dispensaries and similar businesses such as smoke shops will be its open, spacious layout. It will also be bright, with newly installed light fixtures and light, natural wood counters.

Feliciano said the shop expects to carry a variety of cannabis strains. It is also finalizing its in-store stock, which may include gummies, vapes, cartridges, and pipes.

He said that Edgewater-based CEO Nathan Yanovitch envisions opening more Puffin locations in other towns as soon as 2024.

The City Council 2021 voted to establish an overlay zone, creating cannabis retail zones in its City Center and Easton Avenue areas. The ordinance also creates a cultivation, manufacturing, and distribution zone in the industrial Jersey Avenue area.

The New Brunswick City Council voted to issue up to two licenses for marijuana sales downtown and one on Easton Avenue.

The council voted to issue up to four licenses for cultivation, manufacturing, and distribution along Jersey Avenue.

City officials said the plan is to tax cannabis sales at the highest rate allowed by the state.

New Jersey collected more than $7.7 million in taxes on cannabis purchases from July through September, the vast majority stemming from the state's 6.625% sales tax, levied on all retail cannabis purchases, according to an Asbury Park Press report from December.

About $225,000 was collected in Social Equity Excise Fee (SEEF) revenue, an extra tax levied specifically on cannabis cultivators and wholesalers earmarked for disbursement to communities most impacted by the War on Drugs.

Story & Photo Credit: Chuck O'Donnell