Eatontown Pot Shop Can Now Sell Recreational Weed, Too

EATONTOWN, NJ — You will soon be able to start purchasing recreational marijuana from the existing medical marijuana shop in Eatontown.

Garden State Dispensary, located on Rt. 35 in Eatontown, applied for a license from the state to expand into recreational marijuana sales. Their application was approved Tuesday by the Cannabis Regulatory Commission at their May 24 meeting.

Garden State Dispensary (owned by AYR Wellness) is located at 59 Rt. 35, near the entrance to Fort Monmouth, and they opened in 2020. Recreational sales will start there in the next few weeks.

Garden State Dispensary first had to get permission from the town of Eatontown to expand into recreational sales, and their request was approved by the Eatontown town Council last August.

In fact, not only did they approve that, but the Eatontown council plans to allow two more pot businesses to open within town limits:

1. A retail cannabis dispensary is proposed to open at the Michael’s (craft store) Plaza at 178 Rt. 35. That store would be owned by Sunrise Holdings LCC, which already filed a new marijuana business license application with the borough. At their March 23, 2022 meeting, the Eatontown council said in this resolution they support approving the license.

2. A Holmdel woman wants to build a facility to grow and manufacture marijuana on Industrial Way West, according to the Asbury Park Press. She wants to open it at Lot 5 at 260-270 Industrial Way West, Block 3502, according to this March 7 Planning Board agenda. Her request for a marijuana-grow operation has not yet been approved by the Eatontown Planning Board.

Neighboring Long Branch also plans to give out up to six marijuana licenses. As Patch reported, the Long Branch city Council previously said it will give out one license each:

• Class 1: Licensed cannabis cultivator or grower
• Class 2: Licensed cannabis manufacturer
• Class 3: Licensed cannabis wholesaler, or a business that only sells marijuana to other businesses and not directly to consumers
• Class 4: Licensed cannabis distributor
• Class 5: Licensed retail pot shop without a cannabis consumption area. That means a store that can sell marijuana, but customers will not be able to consume the pot on premises. This pot shop will likely open near the Long Branch train station.
• Class 6: Licensed cannabis delivery service, meaning businesses that provide courier services to deliver cannabis door to door for customers. Think of it like Amazon for weed.