It’s been a long journey for Shane Jackson, Daniel Berte, and Stephen Bond, but finally the trio have opened Valley Greens, Peekskill’s first cannabis dispensary.
On Saturday August 24, Valley Greens held their grand opening with crowds of people in attendance. Following the store’s ribbon cutting, people eagerly lined up along Central Avenue to enter the store and welcome the new business into the community. Jackson, Berte, and Bond, the owners of Valley Greens, were all smiles during the grand opening and interacted with members of the community.
“We’re feeling great. It took a long time to get here. It was a ton of hoops to jump through but we’re here now,” said Jackson.
Jackson, Berte, and Bond are childhood friends who grew up in Cortlandt. The trio first began to explore opening a dispensary when they heard about the NYS CAURD license program in the summer of 2022. After applying, their license was granted the following year in June 2023. Within a few months, the Valley Greens team thought they secured a location for their dispensary in Peekskill but due to a state injunction and the landlord backing out, the trio were unable to proceed with that location. In May 2024, Valley Greens secured their special permit from Peekskill’s Planning Commision, and shortly after began to work on their new location at 939 Central Avenue.
Valley Greens will be open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m Monday through Sunday. According to Jackson, the store will sell various cannabis products, pre-rolls, vapes, tinctures, topicals, oils, and Valley Greens apparel. “Anything that you can think of that’s THC based – if they make it, we got it.” said Jackson.
When customers walk into Valley Greens, they will instantly feel the store’s grocery-style theme, with budtenders evening wearing aprons. Jackson believes that this along with the store’s location and personnel will help differentiate them from the competition. “We have genuine people from the city working here that know all the customers in there and everyone feels like family.”
Customers can purchase products from self- manual kiosks at the store or for newer cannabis consumers budtenders will be around the store for guidance or advice. Additionally, customers can also purchase products online through the Valley Greens website and pick up at the store.
Valley Greens plans to offer a delivery service which will be rolled out next month, says Jackson. Drivers will be required to verify the identity of the customers they deliver to, via ID and payment method. Jackson says that to ensure the safety of drivers, the state requires Valley Greens to own all delivery vehicles and have all products bolted and locked within the vehicle.
Additional security measures that Valley Greens will have at their store include armed guards, secured inventory, and armored truck cash pick ups.
Since April, several locations in Peekskill have been tagged by state agents for selling illicit cannabis. With the opening of Valley Greens and Cloud 914 in the near future, Jackson expects more crackdowns within the city.
“The purpose of legalizing marijuana is to have that tax revenue for the state and so if people are purchasing it illegally, they’re not paying taxes on it and it’s hurting everyone.” said Jackson.
