Alex Norman used to run an illegal marijuana delivery service. Now, he’s preparing to open Brooklyn’s latest legal cannabis store, “Budega NYC” on June 27, looking to bring a community face to the cannabis market.
The family-run store in Park Slope, one of 413 legally licensed cannabis dispensaries in New York State, aims to build a cultural hub that mimics the experience of a corner bodega, according to a press release shared with amNewYork. The founders — Norman and his brother-in-law, Louis W. Colon III — say they hope to transform how communities engage with cannabis.
Colon told amNewYork that opening Budega in his own community means “everything” to him.
“If we have a really great customer experience, build a space that’s beautiful, that’s inviting, we can really change cannabis and those notions that people have about cannabis,” Colon said. “If we can do that, it’s important to us because we can put our family’s stamp on the cannabis industry.”
“The ethos of being your local bodega — we really take that to heart,” Colon added. “We want to become that local spot.”
The new store will include mental health support and partnerships with wellness groups to help customers interrogate whether their use is coping with underlying medical issues, which Norman and Colon see as part of their brand’s mission.
Norman, an entrepreneur and former financial manager, applied through New York’s complicated regulatory process after starting Budega as an apparel and lifestyle brand in 2019, as New York approached legalization.
He told amNewYork he gained his license in 2023 through New York’s Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) program, which gave individuals impacted by the criminal justice system the first opportunity to start legal businesses — distinct from other states that denied licenses to anybody with prior convictions.
“New York has done the best job in terms of prioritizing social equity to get access to licenses,” Norman said. “Because if you look at every other state, the track record has been abysmal.”
As part of Budega’s restorative justice initiative, Norman and Colon will partner with attorneys and local officials to help expunge cannabis convictions from affected individuals’ records.
Family approach
Though New York legalized cannabis dispensaries through a strict regulatory system in 2021, it took until December 2022 for the first legal store to open: the Housing Works Cannabis Co. in the East Village.
Now, with almost 50 legal stores in Brooklyn alone, Bodega NYC enters a crowded market where it hopes to stand out as a symbol of the borough’s pride.
Budega pitches itself as a family-centered model, which Norman and Colon say separates their store from other cannabis storefronts. They built the store with help from designer Jennifer Colon-Norman — Norman’s wife and Colon’s sister — who aimed to maintain the community connections.
Norman said it is a “full circle story” because of his family’s connections to the neighborhood.
“A family running a licensed cannabis dispensary is something very unique, in terms of this storyline,” Norman said.
Colon said one of the largest burdens for Budega will be to reverse cultural stigma around cannabis after decades of the War on Drugs.
“We have some really big hurdles to get over, as far as cultural acceptance of cannabis as a regulated product that is widely accepted by consumers,” Colon said. “We have a road ahead of us for that. It’s part of our job and our inherent responsibility to make that transition, to make it culturally available and accepted.”
Budega NYC will open on June 27 at 321 Fourth Ave. in Brooklyn.
