At last! Indoor Treez, Hell’s Kitchen’s first legal cannabis dispensary, co-owned by Fikri Nagi and Wesim Alsaidi, has arrived on 8th Avenue between W38/39th Street.
The Indoor Treez team (from left) Fazia Naglen, Fikri Nagi and Wesim Alsaidi at the new store on 8th Avenue. Photo: Dashiell Allen
The journey to finally opening took over two years to navigate. “I would have never thought this would happen, and now I’m living it,” Fikri told W42ST. He is a Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) license holder, a licensing program run by the New York Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) to provide opportunities for individuals adversely impacted by the prohibition of marijuana.
Fikri was arrested many times in the 90s, when he dealt weed in the Bronx. “It feels so great. I don’t have to look behind my back,” he said. “I don’t have to worry about people’s gonna rob me, I don’t have to worry about cops. I feel relief, I feel good, I feel like I can raise a family now, and be a person.”
All of the store’s surfaces are painted white, although they may soon receive a redesign. The building above is home to music studios, so the occasional