Residents of Geneva had an extra cause for celebration on Veterans Day, as High Points Dispensary opened its doors. The NYS licensed cannabis and hemp retailer is located at 811 Canandaigua Road, adjacent to Denny’s.
The dispensary features nine cultivators and three processors, all based in New York. Local cultivators include A Walk in the Pines, Honest Pharm, Gage Farms and Starlit 420. Its processors are ayrloom, NoWave and Bristol Extracts.
“We are not a pot shop,” stated High Points Dispensary Owner Daryl Hilkert. “We are a cannabis dispensary. Our products are tested, regulated and approved by New York State.”
Hilkert wants customers from all demographics to feel welcome as they enter the dispensary. A waiting area not only acts a security checkpoint, but also provides a chance for a budtender personally welcome customers onto the show floor – this makes for a more personal experience, Hilkert explained.
“We welcome you in and tell you who we are,” he added. “We’re here to give our personal experience and knowledge to the community.”
The road to opening High Points Dispensary has been a long one for Hilkert. His company, High Points of the Finger Lakes LLC, was one of the first in the region to receive a Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) license in June.
“We’d been shopping around for quite a while for a place,” Hilkert said. “We had a CBD license and were going to have a CBD store, but we thought if we did that, it would hurt our chances of getting a physical license.”
After two months of obtaining approval for a building from the NY Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), the town and city of Geneva, and building owner, he signed a five-year lease – with a five-year extension – for a former bank building. That same week, a lawsuit and statewide injunction delayed the dispensary’s opening.
“It’s been a lot of hard work and a lot of hours, but it paid off. We’re doing what we got to do, and doing it the right way,” Hilkert stated.
Now that the dispensary is open, Hilkert is living his dream, although the feeling is a bit surreal. He is especially thrilled to have the chance to represent cannabis in the right way.
“Never in a million years would I think that I would be one of the first ones to get a license in the area. Even five years ago, who would’ve thought we would be able to have a legal cannabis store here. It’s a wave of the future.”
But the work isn’t done yet. Hilkert has great plans for the dispensary, including providing classes about different cannabinoids and how they work, hosting local events and utilizing the drive-through window for pick-ups.
“We have a lot of things we want to do for the community,” Hilkert said. “To me, it’s all about having people involved.”
High Points is open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday and Wednesday through Saturday; and 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. The dispensary is closed on Tuesday. To learn more, visit High Points Dispensary on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter. A website is currently under construction, but will be available soon.
