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New Minority-Owned Cannabis Shop in Newark Comes to Budding Industry
By Matt Kadosh,
3 days ago
City Leaf owners Julio Marte, left, and Bilal Naji at their cannabis establishment on Broadway in Newark's North Ward on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, just before a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Credits: Matt Kadosh/TAPinto Newark
NEWARK — Joshua Yilmaz had a small brown bag in hand with the goods: several pre-rolls, a grinder, and something to clean his vape pen.
Yilmez, 25, was among the customers on hand for the ribbon-cutting at City Leaf, a new cannabis dispensary that opened on Broadway in the North Ward on Monday. The Belleville resident purchased several ready-to-smoke cannabis joints.
“I was able to get a pre-roll for $10, which is really good compared to a lot of other places,” Yilmez said. “They usually range anywhere from $15 to $20.”
City Leaf is the third cannabis shop to open in Newark since recreational cannabis was legalized in 2021. Its owners, Bilal Naji and Julio Marte, opened last week.
“We have edibles. We have gummies, flower, anything related to cannabis,” Naji said. The shop also has armed security at the front door, along with a series of automated kiosks and a checkout counter staffed by budtenders.
Marte is a resident of the North Ward, and Naji is an existing Newark business owner with a smoke shop on Bloomfield Avenue. Both are Hispanic. Their 1,200-square-foot establishment on Broadway and Chester Avenue used to be the location of Club Chester, a bar that sat vacant for over a year.
“We came in and renovated,” Marte said, adding: “We’re trying to lift up the area.”
City Leaf opened amid a series of cannabis shops in the pipeline for Newark’s largest city, with much buzz around Wu-Tang Clan rapper Raekwon’s cannabis dispensary and lounge, Hashstoria, which broke ground on an 11,000-square-foot facility on Broad Street, in the Central Ward, in October 2023. An opening date for Hashtoria has not been announced.
North Ward Councilman Anibal Ramos Jr. was at the opening of City Leaf, where he purchased an indica sleep aid (indica is a type of cannabis indigenous to the Hindu Kush mountains of Southern Asia). Ramos said he was at first skeptical of cannabis shops opening in Newark.
“I was one of those individuals who had a lot of questions about what legalization meant in New Jersey, how it could potentially impact neighborhoods,” Ramos said.
The ownership at City Leaf, however, boosted his confidence in the potential of the cannabis industry to benefit the city, he said.
“They’re local operators,” Ramos said. “They have a smoke shop on Bloomfield Avenue that they’ve had for a long time, and are really decent people, who are trying to make some inroads in an industry that in this state has been tough for people like them.”
While government approvals of cannabis shops in Newark have made headlines, only three have opened in New Jersey’s largest city.
“We haven’t seen many of these establishments open up in the city of Newark even though it was legalized a few years ago,” Ramos said. “It’s always good to see small business owners who have roots in the community being able to open up shop here in the ward.”
Ramez “Max” Maxemous, co-owner and chief operating officer of URB’N Dispensary on South Street, in the East Ward, was the first to open a cannabis establishment in Newark. That was about a year and a half ago, he said.
Maxemous previously owned a pharmacy in the city, which he sold to raise the capital for his new business. Being the first cannabis dispensary in Newark, he said, was a challenge.
“We had to be 100% in on this project from the day we submitted the application,” Maxemous said. “There are so many obstacles. There are so many hurdles.”
Many of his friends have licenses but have yet to open because of those challenges, he said. Startup costs are a key among the difficulties.
Statewide, the market has rewarded large corporations, which have come from out of state, said Maxemous, who is an area resident and minority owner.
“Multi-state operators, publicly traded companies,” he said. “That’s who is making real money.”
Local government in Newark, Maxemous said, has been helpful.
“The city has been phenomenal for what they can do, but there were a lot of information gaps from the state to the city,” he said. “It was a lot of figuring it out together, especially because I was the first one.”
In the first quarter of this year, the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission reported that 130 licensed dispensaries generated $201 million — a 38% increase over the same time in 2023.
“I’m particularly proud that we have been able to support this progress while remaining committed to fairness, equity, and safety,” CRC Executive Director Jeff Brown said in a statement .
Newark Pastor Steffie Bartley is a cannabis consultant who has helped local cannabis operators, including City Leaf, overcome the obstacles to opening. Bartley said he has worked with owners to help 11 shops open throughout the state.
“All of it really boils down to familiarizing yourself with the process, having that relationship in the community, so that they can look at you and say ‘your credibility speaks volumes to what we’re trying to do,’ ” Bartley said. “And so, we’ve really pinpointed businesses that have those relationships with the city.”
On Broadway, those relationships appeared strong as Christopher Deoleo, lead navigator at Invest Newark, the city’s economic development arm, welcomed the new business owners.
“For many years I lived right down the block and seeing this corner be revitalized brings a smile to my face,” Deoleo said.
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