County Road Cannabis, a family-run, immigrant-owned store, celebrates opening

Navkiran Pandher said her family’s success in local business demonstrates the American dream can still work. That includes Tuesday’s opening of County Road Cannabis in New Hampton, a recreational marijuana shop that was part of the first wave of licensees to open from New York’s general application period.

Pandher’s family is originally from Punjab, India, and immigrated to the U.S. when Pandher was a child. She went on to graduate from Marist College in 2023 and was a constituent services specialist for state Sen. James Skoufis. Pandher said the family’s businesses, which include a handful of gas stations and convenience stores in the Middletown area of Orange County, are how they have chosen to invest in their family and their community.

“Instead of stock, we invested in businesses and making sure that the community is getting what they deserve,” she said, recalling how many customers were excited when her dad, Tony, opened one of their gas stations and offered new lunch options.

“That’s my main concern,” Pandher continued. “That everyone is happy when they leave.”

She hopes they can continue to make customers happy at County Road Cannabis, where Pandher is the director of operations.

The shop is in a retrofitted red barn off county Route 12 in the hamlet of New Hampton. For decades, the barn housed King’s Deli — another Pandher family operation. Before that, it was a packaging facility for onions from southern Orange County’s Black Dirt region.

Pandher said King’s Deli had struggled, describing it as “run down,” but the real estate remained valuable.

“When I was talking about it (opening the shop) with my dad, a lot of people do have their licenses, but they’re struggling to find space to do it,” she said. “We already had this location, it was already in the family, so why not use this space?”

Having the location locked down put the Pandhers ahead of the curve, enabling them to become one of the state’s first recreational dispensary licensees who weren’t “justice-involved” applicants. In rolling out the retail marijuana program, the state Office of Cannabis Management gave preference to license applicants who had marijuana-related convictions in the past in an attempt to make New York’s industry more equitable. Those early licenses were called conditional adult-use retail dispensary licenses, or “CAURDs.”

The window for the general application period opened in October of last year and closed in December. Applicants who could prove they had control over their prospective business premises could apply by November to receive expedited consideration by the state Office of Cannabis Management. The Pandhers were one of the licensees awarded from the November pool of expedited applications and received their license in April.

As Skoufis noted during remarks at County Road Cannabis’ ribbon-cutting Tuesday, gridlock caused by lawsuits hampered the rollout and caused widespread frustration.

“It’s really heartening to see over the past several months, in particular, the state finally beginning to get out of its own way,” Skoufis said.

“We’ve been seeing more of these ribbon cuttings, more of these openings, more people put to work, more applicants and licensees finally be able to see their dreams become realities.”

The Office of Cannabis Management said 14 applicants from the November pool have opened thus far, 11 outside New York City. County Road Cannabis is the second marijuana store to open in the town of Wawayanda after another father-daughter team opened Orange County Cannabis on Dolsontown Road in January.

The Pandhers navigated the licensing process with help from Wei Hu, a co-owner of a Manhattan store and cannabis attorney who has helped about 30 other retail pot shops open in New York City. Once they received their license, the Pandhers spent about $300,000 on renovations and security at the store, which included installing cameras and hiring staff, Hu said.

He said he helps cannabis start-ups to improve access to marijuana’s wellness benefits.

“Cannabis is not a panacea — it doesn’t solve all the problems, but I think for some people in certain situations, it can help them and give them another perspective to help with challenges,” Hu said. “And for people who need to chill out a little bit, I think it’s better and healthier than alcohol and can make you more thoughtful and reflective about things.”

He said they also want to emphasize social-economic equity at the store. Budtenders starting salaries are $20 an hour.

“We’re just trying to pay it forward,” he said.