Urban Leaf officially opened its doors in Manhattan’s Midtown East neighborhood on April 18, and is currently serving about 200 customers per day.
In its first month of business, the store has been attracting a customer base mostly consisting of office workers over the age of 30 who commute to the city, said owner Joseph Abramov.
In a Q&A with NY Cannabis Insider, Abramov answered questions about what customers are buying, operating in Manhattan and challenges in New York’s legal weed industry.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
About how many customers are you seeing per day? How does that compare to your projections before opening?
At least 200 customers a day. I was thinking, ‘How the hell am I going to get 200 to 300 customers a day to walk through this door – not even on day one, let’s say day two or day three?’ And then, surprisingly enough, I realized that cannabis is in very high demand; people make their way to you, they find their way to you.
How many workers do you employ?
We have about 15.
What kinds of products are selling the most?
I would say pre-rolls are probably the No. 1 seller. And then I would say flower