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More smoke shop closings — and more on the horizon?
Photos and reports have been coming in, and the illegal cannabis smoke shops are dropping like flies. Two on Church were closed immediately after the city and state found a way to enforce illegal shops.
It looks like the cannabis store has abandoned plans for the former Chambers Street Wines space, which will have upstairs neighbors relieved.
Jungle on Mars, while not cleared out, has been closed for several days. Thanks to G. for that photo.
The NYPD raided YOLO on Chambers; J. caught the shots above. And C. saw that Mr. Exotix at 165 Church — it once tortured neighbors with an all-night flashing sign — is now padlocked.
More to come, as well as a catch-up on the LEGAL stores that have applied to be in the neighborhood…
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Good! Finally!
Happy to see. Made no sense how these places were ever allowed to operate in the first place. Even if we go by the assumption that weed is no more harmful than cigarettes (which it is), the city has incredibly strict standards to prevent marketing tobacco to kids. Meanwhile, weed stores look like shiny toy stores, sporting neon pot leaves and selling candy and energy drinks. About as well suited to appeal to teens as any store. It’s ridiculous that no one had the common sense to see who this was designed to attract and take action to prevent that like we do with other substances. Weed should be help to no less than the same standard to which cigarettes and vaping are held. And the current laws regarding distribution should absolutely be enforced.
Mr exotix, extinct! Great to see it. Not only a nuisance, but awful people.
Can you imagine opening a liquor store without the proper permits? You would be shut down immediately. Why were these stores initially treated as hands-off?
There’s lots of lit on this. Basically, the problem was a bureaucratic one. But in terms of “will to enforce” the law, it fell into much the same category as the merchants of knock-off goods around Canal and B’way. If you arrest these people you put them through a costly, backlogged system that has them sitting in a cell for a week and getting three meals a day at taxpayers’ expense. OTOH, let them do what they’re doing and they go back to their shared apartments or whatever, feed themselves and make the rent. The unspoken theory is that we’re better off passing them on the street than paying for their upkeep and clogging up the judicial system. Unfortunately, the rationale is pretty sound.
Plenty more where these came from. Smoke Shop on Church/Broadway is a hub where counterfeit peddlers hang out, it’s like a pot haven. Laws have to be enforced otherwise meaningless. I don’t know what the law is, but when the police is absent the counterfeit peddlers are ready to pounce their bags are always at the ready, and they did start spreading out again at dusk on Canal. Let’s see how far this is going to go.
sorry it is Church/Canal.
Can’t wait for the one next to 16 handles closes. Glad Mr Exotica closed the day before it closed I noticed the benches that were used by thugs fixing if thier weed and treating the streets throwing the trash like their apartment and just smoking it up. Good riddance!!!