New York City’s second legal weed store – and the first owned by a person with a prior marijuana conviction – is ready to open its doors in Greenwich Village on Tuesday.

Beginning at 10 a.m., the sprawling Bleecker Street shop, called Smacked LLC, will offer an array of cannabis products, including flower, tinctures, edibles and weed-infused sparkling water. It joins Housing Works Cannabis Co. – just half a mile away – as one of two legal recreational dispensaries in a city already saturated with black market options.

The storefront, which will operate in a “pop-up” capacity for its first month before undergoing a full renovation, marks a long-awaited step in New York’s ambitious effort to prioritize social equity in an emerging billion-dollar marijuana industry.

Under a state policy announced earlier this year by Gov. Kathy Hochul, the state has promised to award its first 150 retail licenses to individuals with marijuana-related criminal convictions who can prove they’ve run a profitable business for two years. (Nonprofit-run shops like Housing Works are on a separate track).

Smacked owner Roland Conner, a property manager and New Jersey resident, qualified under previous arrests, which he declined to detail on Monday. He said he plans to run the site alongside his 25-year-old son, Darius, who was also involved in the pre-legalization – or “legacy” – weed-selling business. [Read More @ The Gothamist]