A new cannabis dispensary in the Financial District is hitting the ground running.
Highest Standards, located at 2 Coenties Slip, is the first legal dispensary south of Wall Street, allowing people to get their high in FiDi. The store was founded by Managing Partners Eric Hammond and Jonathan Monk, who both had extensive experience in the cannabis industry before opening Highest Standards.
“I did have a store called Higher Standards previously. This is the reinvention, remanifestation of that as a legal cannabis dispensary. We had that store at the Chelsea Market for a number of years,” said Hammond. “We had another one in Atlanta at the Pont City Market, and then we had one in Malibu at the Malibu Village, and they were all this very well-curated, elevated experiential smoke shop. It started my passion for this and this is kind of where it ended up.”
“Eric and I, we connected about a year ago on a separate project, but our backgrounds are pretty similar. We’ve both been in the cannabis space for a while. I spent about 3 years trying to become a dispensary owner, with some success in Illinois, but not to the level of the project that we have in New York,” said Monk. “So when Eric and I had the opportunity to kind of come together, I had had this vision, he had this vision, and the brand, and it was just a natural alignment.”
Highest Standards was opened with the goal to bring an assortment of cannabis products that are not commonly found on dispensary menus to the city. They aim to create a new benchmark for what cannabis retail can become.
The Highest Standards retail space is only 1,200 square feet, but Hammond and Monk made every square inch count. In addition to a range of cannabis products on display, the space includes a rotating gallery featuring contemporary artwork as well as an outdoor patio for community gatherings, cultural programming, and social connection. Throughout the store, guests can also find archival Jonathan Adler pieces, collectible K. Haring glass, and Edie Parker designs, vintage lifestyle goods, and curated candles.
“The experience from the outset was supposed to be multi-sensory, from the look and feel of the space to the smell to the assortment. So when we were building it out, the non-negotiable, especially when you’re working with less than 1000 square feet of retail space, is to make it feel welcoming and not cramped,” said Hammond. “We also really wanted to lean into the natural beauty and the historic element of the building, so inside there’s a lot of exposed brick. There’s a lot of exposed beams. We really wanted to make sure that we featured kind of the beauty and the architecture that was already there and then bring it to the next level.”
The actual physical space was designed by Hammond, while Monk preferred to make sure that the store was efficient for the customer experience.
“Operational efficiency is probably what I pay most attention to here, just making sure the customer experience — like they’re not sitting around waiting, we have the products that they want — they’re enjoying the experience,” said Monk. “I stand out here on this patio and I talk to pretty much everyone that comes in the door, just introduce myself, try to be like a member of the community.”
Though the space has only been open for around eight weeks, Hammond and Monk told amNewYork that Highest Standards has been incredibly successful so far. The store is located just blocks away from where the Knicks’ Championship parade took place, which brought in a new wave of customers and more insight on how the store performs when it’s super busy, but both Hammond and Monk are looking forward to seeing how the store continues to perform. They are also hosting a grand opening event in July 14 for media, tastemakers, creators, and industry leaders.
Despite having just opened in FiDi, Highest Standards is not slowing down. This summer, the brand is opening a Bronx location at 1031 Southern Blvd.
“The goal is always to have multiple here. The Bronx is a little more opportunistic. We look at it as an opportunity for us to fine-tune our model,” said Hammond. “So we’ve now got this flagship model [in the Financial District], and what you’re gonna see in the Bronx is what we’ll call our neighborhood model, something that would probably bring to downtown Brooklyn or Westchester County.”
“Our goal is to continue to expand within the market, eventually to all five boroughs, Westchester County, Long Island, having 6 to 9+ dispensaries,” said Monk.
For more information, visit higheststandards.com.
