New York’s cannabis market has become one to watch. Despite a rocky rollout, sales are climbing fast. Legal cannabis sales in the Empire State have already hit $1.26 billion year-to-date, and regulators expect that figure to reach $1.8 billion by year’s end.
It’s no surprise that California cannabis companies want a piece of the pie — especially as regulated sales in the Golden State continue to fall. At last week’s Hall of Flowers, the first in NYC, some of the hottest West Coast players came to stake that claim. And while there were plenty of New York brands present, out-of-state players seemed to dominate the floor.
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Held just weeks after the New York-heavy Revelry, Hall of Flowers offered brands and ancillary businesses a chance to make a splash in front of local buyers and content creators. With limited product diversity on New York dispensary shelves—and California cannabis already popular on the illicit market—demand for many exhibiting brands was sky-high.
Ted Lidie, founder of Sacramento-based Alien Labs, is gearing up to launch his line of designer weed in New York in January. The company, along with sister brand Connected Cannabis, partnered with Fluent to bring the product to market. At Hall of Flowers, the Alien Labs booth was consistently busy, with fans lining up to smell large jars filled with premium bud.
“We got swamped,” Lidie told GreenState. “People are super excited to see their favorite brand come out and make it into their market.”
Lidie added that while his company may be from California, it has the East Coast in its heart.
“We’ve been in New York since we’ve been a brand,” he said. “My daughter’s name is Brooklyn. This is a pivotal reason why we’re able to have success: New York’s a world market.”
Josh Schmidt, co-founder of fellow Sacramento-based brand Sluggers Hit, was also busy in the Big Apple. Schmidt and his team were celebrating the launch of the line in roughly 130 stores via a partnership with HPI Canna. He told GreenState that the initial demand was greater than his partners could manage, and they are already scaling up production.
“We’re kicking off super strong in New York…the orders are really ramping up,” Schmidt said from his booth. “There’s definitely a lot of love in New York for California brands on top of the local brands that they’re building here.”
One thing that appeared crucial to the advancement of out-of-state brands in New York is collaboration. Most are working with local operators to bring their proprietary products to market. Some at Hall of Flowers said the process had its growing pains, especially around flower. Quality control and operations were still being dialed in to get the NY bud to the same level as its Cali cousins.
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Scott Hammond of beloved California concentrate brand Kalya said that finding partners that adhere to the same standards is foundational to the company’s expansion efforts. He was able to secure a relationship with New York’s Growing Renaissance. Known for its living soil practices and state-of-the-art cultivation facilities, the two companies are now offering co-branded concentrates on the NY market.
And unlike some of the other out-of-state companies in the building, Kalya’s local product looked and smelled just as good as its hometown hash.
“Finding farms that value craft, are looking to push the envelope, and that invest into the intellectual property of genetics is structural to developing supply chains for consistency and quality,” Hammond told GreenState. “A chef is only as good as his ingredients, and we are only as good as the resin we are given.”
An East Coast flair
California may be the unofficial epicenter of cannabis culture, but each market has its own unique spin on the plant. And while it’s true that Cali weed has been making its way to New York for years via traditional channels, it’s a different ballgame on the regulated side.
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Jetty Extracts, a California-based company best known for its line of solventless vapes and concentrates, launched in New York in late 2023. Jetty’s senior vice president of marketing, Annie Starr Davis, felt that it wasn’t just hype driving the success of California cannabis in New York; brands also have to set themselves apart to succeed.
“I think that there is an appetite for and an openness to out-of-state brands when those brands are coming to the market with something that fills an unmet consumer need or that fills a gap in the market,” she said.
At the Purple City Genetics booth, Oakland-based founder Auryn McCafferty observed that people were choosing their seeds carefully. The majority of cannabis in New York is currently cultivated under the sun, in greenhouses, or mixed light facilities. So while trends may start in California, environmental conditions and local consumer preferences may shift what ultimately ends up being grown.
“A lot of people are looking to California to see which genetics thrive outdoors,” McCafferty said. “Growers want to know what works agronomically — what produces strong plants for flower, for hash, and what’s popular on social media.”
He noted that New York growers show unusual demand for sativa varieties — fitting for the city that never sleeps, where energizing strains like Sour Diesel first took root. Knowing this, California players may have to tweak their catalogues to appeal to the East Coast crowd.
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Hall of Flowers NYC: California makes its East Coast mark
New York’s adult-use cannabis market has taken three years to ramp up—and it’s now ripe for expansion. Many locals remain loyal to East Coast producers, but California’s hype brands have long had a foothold in NYC. If the city’s first Hall of Flowers is any indication, West Coast heat is still making waves.
