ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Dozens of employees inside a busy Nabis warehouse are hard at work, packaging and shipping out boxes and boxes of cannabis products.
What You Need To Know
New York’s legal cannabis market continues to grow, surpassing $3 billion in total reported retail sales.
Nabis is one of the largest wholesalers of cannabis in the country.
Nabis distributes around $1 billion of cannabis a year.
“We store inventory in here. We store up to 30 days’ worth of product and then ship it across the state,” said Nabis co-founder and CEO Vince Ning.
Nabis has seven warehouses across the country. The one in Rochester is the largest in New York, with 15% of the cannabis market coming through it. And as the market grows, so does the company.
“We had 20, 30 people working here last year. Now we’re up to 70, 80 people and moving into a bigger space,” said Ning.
Nabis distributes around $1 billion of cannabis a year. Ning believes outside of artificial intelligence, cannabis is the fastest growing industry.
“Cannabis is the new cash crop,” said Ning. “New generations are consuming this even more than alcohol today and you can see it in the wave of legalization that’s occurring state by state.”
Just like with any growing industry, Ning says there’s waves in the market.
“New York is on the rise right now, so hopefully we as an industry don’t get too ahead of ourselves and there’s a big drop off,” said Ning.
FLWR CITY COLLECTIVE is one of the brands Nabis distributes. Owner and operator Zach Sarkis says the industry is in a much different place five years since recreational legalization.
“There was 200 and change growers in year one, with the promise that there would be 100 dispensaries. There was about seven by the end of the first year. That created this competitive market. It was really tough,” said Sarkis.
Now, there are now more than 623 legal dispensaries open for business across the state. It’s something Sarkis says helps with preventing over-saturation in the cannabis market.
“Every shop that opens creates more demand. There is concern from the state’s level that there won’t be enough supply this year, which I doubt,” said Sarkis. “But that is a positive concern on a producer’s side. Going from a flooded market to there being less supply than demand, just means that there are fair margins.”
Sarkis also founded the New York Craft Association, an educational platform to help other small cannabis farms navigate the changing industry.
“Waves of good times and bad times. Certain parts of this market have been really bad, but there’s also a lot of places where it still feels cool and exciting still,” said Sarkis.
And Ning says distributors like Nabis can help make those good times last longer.
“We believe it’s our responsibility and job to inform both sides of the market,” said Ning. “Whether that’s brands or retailers or even consumers, how much to purchase and when so the market doesn’t get too hot.”