New cannabis store to open in East Farmingdale next month

The cannabis store Flower Shak plans to open its first Long Island shop in East Farmingdale next month, as the number of cannabis stores grows in the area.

Abishak Anand, who goes by Shak, will open the store at 135 Allen Blvd. after his sister, Shaveta Anand, opened the first Flower Shak at 114-19 Rockaway Beach Blvd. in Queens late last year.

Anand, who lives in Plainview, said he wanted to open a store on Long Island to be close to his children and also focus on the business.

Before getting into the cannabis business, Anand said he ran several Verizon stores and that the excitement of selling new cannabis products reminded him of the thrill he got from selling new phones in the 2010s.

"I loved cellphones when I first started because it was the coolest thing ever selling a BlackBerry," Anand said. "It's the same thing."

The roughly 3,000-square-foot Flower Shak will sell a variety of cannabis products, Anand said, and feature art installations of oversized grinders and rolling papers from the Florida-based pop sculpture artist Gwak.

Anand said he spent about $1 million to renovate the building, and plans to hire 15 employees within the first month of opening.

Anand bought the Allen Boulevard building at the beginning of the year for $1.375 million, property records show after settling a dispute over the price of the property with the seller, MDK Realty Corp., according to court records.

In July, Anand received his retail license to operate the store under Neo Wellness LLC from the Office of Cannabis Management, which oversees the state's legal retail cannabis program, according to OCM records. He said he hopes to wrap up construction in the coming weeks and open next month.

A representative for the Town of Babylon said the town issued the shop a building permit on June 1, but has not yet issued the property its certificate of occupancy.

The opening comes as the number of cannabis retailers and medical shops on Long Island grows to about 20, according to OCM. Since Jan. 1, cannabis retailers on Long Island have sold $117.6 million worth of cannabis products, according to data OCM shared with Newsday.

Farmingdale in particular has seen a number of shops open or plan to open in the coming months, including Strain Stars and The Artist Tree, which will open this fall, Newsday reported.

But the competition doesn't worry Anand, he said.

"They're here. So I have to shoot from deep, know my strengths, not worry about them and try to be amicable and not let that affect me," Anand said.