A new N.J. legal weed shop is opening this summer minutes from the Rutgers campus

By NJ Cannabis Insider staff

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Several cannabis retail stores have been approved by New Jersey to open this year. NJ Cannabis Insider is putting a spotlight on these licensed cannabis businesses.

Puffin Store NJ

Puffin Store is a women- and minority-owned dispensary opening this summer in downtown New Brunswick. Located at 382 George St., Puffin is minutes from the train station and the Rutgers University campus.

Puffin was built with the vision of focusing on the customer experience and the betterment of communities, said CEO and co-owner Nathan Yanovitch. “The Puffin Team are committed to providing a safe environment for those at all levels of cannabis experience, with experts ready to help you engage with the best selection of products in the market,” Yanovitch said.

In addition to Yanovitch, the company’s owners include VP of Legal Operations Gabriel Eustache, Director of Event Strategy Sylvia Castillo Yanovitch, and Director of Operations Alex Benjamin, boasting 30 years of experience in retail, cannabis, medicine and more. Find Puffin Store NJ on Instagram.

This Q&A, conducted by NJ Cannabis Insider contributor Andrew Ward, was edited for clarity.

Q: How do you separate your company from the competition?

A: What differentiates us from other companies in this space is the Puffin Store team. Rarely do you find a team with such a wealth of experience in so many aspects of retail that also have the camaraderie that we all have with each other. I have been in retail for over 20 years, and everyone on the Puffin team has the same focus and drive I had when I first started.

We know how to make lifelong customers, we know how to create a team of people excited about coming to work every day, and we know how to keep all that going for a long time.

Q: How are you funding your startup costs?

A: As a businessman, I have always believed in being self-reliant. I have never been in a position where I needed investors, and I always made sure to be debt free. I have been fortunate enough to have a long and fruitful career. Part of that is constantly reinvesting into ourselves through every penny we make. This business is especially exciting for me, so I am more eager than ever to use my own money to build something special.

Q: What is your company’s biggest challenges since winning your annual?

A: I have never been so hands-on in actually building a store. It’s easy to say, “I want Puffin Store to have the customer experience be as memorable as possible.” Once you realize the financial and bureaucratic hurdles that come with bringing that vision to reality, you quickly realize that vision isn’t feasible.

We had to learn quickly that there has to be a happy medium between what you want creatively and what you can feasibly accomplish for a reasonable price as well as what you are allowed to do. And that only scratches the visual aspect. There is so much that goes into building a store, and it is just a newer experience to me.

Q: What can the market do better to help a business like yours?

A: As it stands, the cost of entry into cannabis is so much higher than your typical business. The banking and taxes alone make it so difficult to imagine how a company like this can operate. Then you factor in limitations on the wholesale market and land use and exponentially higher rents.

There are an overwhelming number of obstacles to get through. We are grateful for how the Cannabis Regulatory Commission has helped us navigate these challenges thus far. With every year that passes, I am more optimistic about the access of conventional sources of financing for small cannabis businesses.

Q: Where do you want to see the market in 5 years?

A: In a perfect world, I would hope the stigmas that have made bringing this industry to light would dissipate. It took me over 50 years to truly shed my stigma of what cannabis is, who it is for, and why I should use it. Even now, when I tell people what Puffin Store is, I get a fair share of odd looks.

After five years of recreational cannabis being a part of people’s everyday lives, I would hope that it feels easier for new people to come into a store and feel comfortable and safe in purchasing cannabis for the first time. And I would especially want to see the demonization of cannabis be at its lowest in my lifetime.

Q: Why did you choose to get into the cannabis industry?

A: Travel was a part of my career for so much of my life, and I spent a good portion of my time traveling to Southern California. Quasi-legal shops had been around for a long time, but in 2017 I visited my first true dispensary. Looking at the menu and the names made me feel like I was reading another language. As a retailer, I couldn’t help thinking about how to engage a consumer like myself, who found that world completely foreign.

Over the next two years, as I traveled to build stores, I visited more and more dispensaries in several states. In 2019, my son, who was 24 at the time, and I began to do the market research for what the business could potentially look like here.

I knew I wanted to build a dispensary that serves both the canna-curious and those familiar with cannabis in one place. When the time came for recreational cannabis to arrive in New Jersey, I was already certain that this was the industry I wanted to be in for the next stage of my life. Within weeks, Puffin Store was born, and our journey began.

Q: What is your community impact plan?

A: We have so much we want to do that it is difficult to put into words. It is so important to everyone on the Puffin Store team to give opportunities to communities that have been overlooked for far too long. We’re also incredibly eager to give back to the New Brunswick community that welcomed us with open arms.

Those are absolutely some of the top priorities when we look at how we want to grow the Puffin team, making sure that we bring in a diverse group of talented people right from our backyard. Part of the reason why we are so happy to be opening in New Brunswick is how many creative sub-communities it has.

We have worked with local events ranging from jazz to art to multimedia, and we are excited about using our platform to give young local artists the exposure they deserve.

This Q&A first appeared in NJ Cannabis Insider Issue 253.

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