Ascend Cannabis has announced plans to leave Montclair only a little over a year after becoming Montclair’s first adult-use recreational dispensary. Ascend plans to move to Wharton, more than 20 miles away and nearly an hour drive from its current location at 395 Bloomfield Ave.
“We are excited to serve the customers in Wharton in a currently underserved market,” said Rebecca Koar, executive vice president of investor relations and strategy for Ascend Wellness Relations. Koar cited reasons for the move, stating there is “a bit more competition in Montclair” and that parking was a problem. “In Wharton, we will have plenty of parking and the opportunity to serve an underserved community,” she said. The move to Wharton is expected in late summer or early fall of next year.
Steps away from Ascend is the Midtown Parking garage (the garage opened in November 2022). Ascend promotes it on its website and offers a parking credit on orders. The closest competition is Rise in Bloomfield; another dispensary, Nightjar, is coming soon to Bloomfield. Ascend is currently Montclair’s only recreational use dispensary; in May 2023, Montclair granted two recreational licenses to Night Owl and Kush Connections.
Ascend intends to work with key stakeholders to transition the current location and license to a social equity holder to operate the business in the future. In New Jersey, a social equity holder is contingent on a person’s location, income and if they have previous charges relating to marijuana. The social equity guidelines aim to bring more inclusivity and diversity to the cannabis industry.
Ascend wants the Montclair community to know their time spent in the town was positive overall. “We appreciate our customers and patients in Montclair. Montclair was one of, if not the first, medical licenses operating in the state of New Jersey and we have appreciated the loyal support of our customers and supporters,” Koar said.
A Rocky Start
Ascend first came to Montclair in February 2021, when it reopened Montclair’s Greenleaf Compassion Center, the first medical use dispensary in New Jersey. In May 2022, the Township Council of Montclair gave Ascend a “resolution of support” to medical marijuana dispensary Ascend to expand into recreational sales, a measure needed to get a state license.Ascend In June 2022, they briefly opened for a few hours and conducted adult use recreational sales without appropriate permits in place, sales that town officials would later call “illegal.” Ascend then threatened legal action in July 2023 if Montclair continued to delay approving its recreational use license. In August 2022, Ascend had its grand opening and began recreational use sales.
While Ascend is planning its move to Wharton, employees told Montclair Local they weren’t informed by the company and only learned of the move online. “The way I was notified was, when I came to work and a colleague turned around the computer screen and showed an article from a particular news site,” said one employee.
The employees, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there has been no communication from the company or their union representatives. Of the latter, an employee called the union representation “fake” and that the contract was “works against us and not for us,” but also said they will miss the people they work with and their customers.
Alongside selling cannabis, Ascend is in partnership with the Last Prisoner Project to work to release prisoners who were incarcerated due to marijuana related charges.
H/T: montclairlocal.news
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