HOBOKEN, NJ — Even with both medical and recreational cannabis now legal in New Jersey, dispensary owners have faced a slow path toward opening in the Garden State, especially in tiny Hoboken. But as of three weeks ago, the mile-square city has its first dispensary.
The Station — a medical dispensary that will also offer recreational marijuana at some point in the future — quietly opened for business on the last Monday in October.
The spacious business is located on the ground floor of a stately office building at River and Newark streets, just two blocks from the Hoboken train station and a short walk from the Hudson River waterfront.
The owner of The Station — Joe Castelo — had a bit of an advantage, as he owns the building, as well as two other businesses in the same building: The Antique Loft, a sixth-floor event space with catering, and Sweven, a creative space where artists and entrepreneurs can work or hold events.
But Castelo still spent nearly five years working on The Station, he said. He hopes to open for recreational use in the next few months, and just needs approval from the Hoboken Cannabis Review Board, after getting other state