Heady NJ is not happy to report that Blossom Dispensary on Tonnelle Avenue in Jersey City in North Jersey has closed.
It was in a bad location since Green Stop Wellness and the Medicine Woman dispensary, partially owned by Ice-T, were before it on Tonnelle Avenue, which is often entered from the opposite direction.
They last posted on their Twitter/X account last September 2024.
Blossom Dispensary was also at the edge of the Heights neighborhood in the north of the city, which has many dispensaries like Benedict’s Supply, Uforia, The Other Side, and Leaf Joint that are open. Many of them are owned and operated by locals, minorities, and/or women.
Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, Council President Joyce Wattermann, and Hudson County Chamber of Commerce President Emory Edwards attended their ribbon-cutting ceremony last April 2024. They boasted at the time of having a large menu.
Locals Open and Closed with Help From Massachusetts
Local sisters Bina and Sapna Bhatt were the main Blossom Dispensary owners.
They were the first dispensary approved by the Jersey City Planning Board in March 2022.
Co-owner Bina Bhatt told them, “I was born and raised in Jersey City. Jersey City is my home. As the vice president of a Jersey City non-profit as well as a prior federal law enforcement official, I can use my experience to build an honest, safe, and reputable establishment.”
Her sister Sapna Bhatt is a nurse, according to their testimony.
However, they might not have opened without help from Massachusetts cannabis entrepreneurs. They noted their co-owner was another Indian woman from Massachusetts, Parvinder Kaur.
Blossom Dispensary was the first dispensary that the Jersey City Cannabis Control Board (CCB) approved in May 2022. They promised to help a lot of different non-profits in the city. Afterward, the Jersey City Council approved them in July 2022 along with others.
Sapna transferred her ownership to Harvinder Singh of Herbal Pathways and Kaur. The NJ-Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) said they were Massachusetts dispensary owners last April, before Blossom opened.
Singh and his partners transferred ownership to the HiBrid holding company according to the Massachusetts Cannabis Commission. Herbal Pathways was cited for selling moldy weed early this year, according to NBC.
Cannabis Industry Issues
Jersey City has not been able to impose a distance limit. Applicants too close to other places sued to get through the process. So, they were largely allowed to go through and open. So several dispensaries in Jersey City, and elsewhere, have the same problem Blossom did.
Mayor Fulop has defended the competitive process as more transparent and fair than what is occurring in other towns.
Heady NJ is very eager to expose traditionally shady Jersey deals of local government and business in other towns.
High taxes and the inability of licensed cannabis companies to write off expenses make the industry very difficult.
So some underground legacy operators and smoke shops selling weed and intoxicating hemp in Jersey City were forced to close down after raids. But it remains a significant issue for licensed dispensaries to compete with places that benefit from confusion around cannabis laws, social justice rhetoric against drug raids hurting minorities, and indifference.
In addition, high prices and low-quality products have been concerns for years in the NJ cannabis market. However, local independent cannabis cultivators have been getting to market since 2023 in the medical side and last year, 2024, in the adult use side, slowly but surely.
Blossom Dispensary is the latest New Jersey dispensary to close after the surprising news that Hashstoria dispensary in Newark was evicted and closed. It was owned by Wu-Rang Clan rapper Raekown the Chef and radio/podcast host Charlamagne tha God, among others.
Nonetheless, more dispensaries plan to open in both Newark and Jersey City. So while it is difficult when a few places are victims of circumstances, the New Jersey cannabis industry is continuing with more and more products being released. In addition, new dispensaries continue to open.
