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cannabis dispensary

First cannabis dispensary opens in Pine Plains

First cannabis dispensary opens in Pine Plains

Manager Benjamin Abrahams working behind the counter of Pine Plains’ first cannabis dispensary.

Photo by Graham Corrigan

PINE PLAINS — The first cannabis dispensary in Pine Plains opened for business last week.

The store is still unnamed, but it’s built on the former site of a weigh station — and has retained some key elements of the building’s past.

The dispensary is the first step in a larger plan to breathe new life into the former Deuel’s Home Center property at 7723 Main Street. There are two other buildings on the property that the owners plan to convert to a grocery store and ice cream shop.

But the dispensary comes first. It’s the brainchild of Christopher Gumprecht, Benjamin Abrahams and Brian Seiler. Seiler and Abrahams have managed one cannabis store already — Upstate Pines in Red Hook. Gumprecht bought the Main Street property in 2020, and approached the two about managing a Pine Plains location.

But the trio faced a number of hurdles in order to open the Pine Plains store. First, there was opposition from the Pine Plains Hose Company, which argued the building’s location violated a rule prohibiting cannabis sales within 300 feet of a public service. A waiver was eventually granted in December 2025.

Arguments over an accessibility ramp delayed the project a further seven months. The Planning Board voted in July to allow the business to open without a ramp, and obtain a certificate of occupancy.

The building is freshly painted and two signs flap in the wind outside; there’s little to indicate that the storefront sells cannabis.

Inside, the showroom is bright. On one wall, rows of magnified cannabis buds sit ready for inspection in glass orbs. Edibles are on display in a case below the counter. An old scale, original to the building, has a place of honor near the back.

But the dispensary has not won over everyone. A homemade sign that reads “Say No To Drugs” sits propped on a neighbor’s fence, facing the dispensary.

Abrahams is unfazed. “We’re pioneers,” he said with a grin.

There has been a recent surge in dispensaries, with New York legalizing the sale of recreational cannabis in 2021. Millerton’s first dispensary, Blackrabbit Farms, is slated to open on Main Street later this year.

Graham Corrigan
cannabis dispensary

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