Happy Days Dispensary opens in East Farmingdale as LI's 2nd recreational pot shop

Long Island's second recreational cannabis dispensary opened its doors Tuesday in East Farmingdale.

Happy Days Dispensary, located on Route 109 near Republic Airport, is also the second state-licensed brick-and-mortar recreational marijuana shop to operate in the same Babylon Town neighborhood following Strain Stars' opening in July.

“This is beautiful,” customer Nicole Smith said of the 5,300-square-foot space after buying some pre-rolled marijuana cigarettes.

The Lindenhurst resident said she uses marijuana to relieve the effects of multiple sclerosis and help her sleep.

Last month, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Happy Days' tentative opening date as Dec. 23. 

The state’s Office of Cannabis Management said it gave the store the green light to open after an inspection Friday.

But without a town certificate of occupancy, which Happy Days President Paul Lepore said town officials promised Friday, the store couldn't open until Tuesday.

Matt McDonough, an outside attorney who handles marijuana issues for Babylon, said town hall was closed Friday and paving had to be completed in the store's parking lot before the certificate could be issued.

Happy Days opened at noon Tuesday, about 30 minutes after getting its certificate of occupancy.

But in the next hour, the store's more than two dozen employees heavily outnumbered its customers. Lepore said opening date confusion and an intentional lack of advertising led to the sparse clientele.

“We wanted to serve the people who really wanted to get in here first to make sure they get good quality customer service,” Lepore said. “The rest will come.”

Strain Stars has done as much as $1.5 million in cannabis sales a week, taking in about $13.3 million in its first three months, Newsday previously reported. Under state law, Babylon gets to keep 3% of the revenue from cannabis retail shops, town officials said.

Like Strain Stars, Happy Days features a range of cannabis products, from marijuana flower to gummies and sparkling water, all enclosed behind glass.

A black and white mural splashed across the back wall depicts famous people including Bob Marley, Snoop Dogg, Pete Davidson, Miley Cyrus, Rihanna and even former President John F. Kennedy smoking marijuana.

The store will donate a percentage of proceeds to town programs for mental health treatment and at-risk youth, according to Lepore, who wouldn't specify that percentage.

Happy Days was one of multiple recreational dispensaries that had to wait to open following a court-ordered injunction that barred the state from finalizing licenses after four disabled military veterans challenged the process, Newsday previously reported.

Their case, which argued the state ignored a licensing priority to which they were entitled, settled last month.

About three dozen businesses have licenses to open dispensaries on Long Island, but zoning regulations in the towns that are allowing the dispensaries — Babylon, Brookhaven, Riverhead and Southampton — have left few storefront options, according to potential applicants.

Happy Days customer Cornelius Jones, 54, of Wyandanch, said Tuesday he holds a state dispensary license but has had trouble finding a location. He said he initially hoped to open in Babylon but now feels the town “might be getting saturated.”

He said he’s setting his sights on Brookhaven for a shop, even after he said the town rejected his initial proposed location for being too close to a residential area.

“It’s been frustrating,” Jones said. “You’re just trying to do everything New York State asks you to do but Long Island is moving so slow.”

Babylon restricts recreational pot stores to industrially zoned areas outside a 200-foot radius of religious properties and a 500-foot radius of schools, libraries, parks and any other areas “where minors congregate.”

Babylon has proposed loosening restrictions by allowing a radius of 750 feet instead of 1,000 feet when it comes to the distance between dispensaries and residences. A public hearing on that measure will be held Jan. 17.

McDonough said town officials are pleased Happy Days has opened and anticipate that at least three more dispensaries will open in Babylon this year.

“This marks a positive step for small business development, providing responsible access to cannabis within the town’s community regulations,” he added.

By Denise M. Bonilla

denise.bonilla@newsday.comdenisebonilla

Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.