The HudHaus held their grand opening yesterday to become North Bergen’s first recreational cannabis dispensary open for business.
By Daniel Ulloa/Hudson County View
“This isn’t a company being run from Florida, or Massachusetts, or California. Our upper executive floor is five people and four of them went to North Bergen High School,” HudHaus CEO Pharoah Lozano explained.
“We want to be game changers and correct all the things wrong with the industry, the coldness, the lack of knowledge, the corporatism, the capitalism, the lack of community. They all talk of social equity … and they don’t do anything. We’re going to lead by example,” HudHaus Partner and Assistant General Manager Salam Diri added.
The store is located at 9001 Old River Road, near North Bergen’s Hudson River waterfront, across the street from the Borough of Edgewater. At 3,000 square feet, it is one of the largest cannabis businesses in the area.
Artwork on the wall featured Bob Marley, Frank Sinatra, the artist Jean Micheal Basquiat, and the legendary Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, all created by a local North Bergen artist.
Lozano joked that the decorum is nicer than a Starbucks.
Their brand color is a shade of light purple called mauve, which he said can be found in some strains like Purple Haze. So Lozano noted the mauve color of the building is distinctive and attracted people.
Notably, HudHaus has a parking lot for 22 cars. Their logo is a cloud, and the motif is found throughout the dispensary.
Diri noted their dispensary is colorful and welcoming, with friendly, knowledgeable staffers, versus the cold, impersonal atmosphere of dispensaries owned by large corporate Multi-State Operators (MSOs.)
Notably, HudHaus features products from the new grower North Lake Supply. In addition, consumers can purchase include Miss Grass, North Lake, Full Tilt Labs, Garden Greens, Fernway, Clade9, and Mudd Brothers.
Diri said they have some exclusive deals with some of the new independent brands that might be harder to find elsewhere in Hudson County.
Senior Shift Supervisor Estefania Valencia noted they wanted to support legacy growers and create an ecosystem.
Like some of the newer dispensaries, HudHaus will feature cannabis flower in jars that can be seen and smelled to measure the quality.
Lozano said only 35 percent of their products are from large MSOs, much lower than man northern New Herset dispensaries that opened last year.
“It’s amazing for your mind, it’s amazing for your spirit,” Valencia said about cannabis.
That’s why it’s important to learn about it.
Being social justice-minded, Lozano said they want to donate money to the youth.
“Over time, the impact we have on the impact will make us more impactful than just selling weed … I’ve been giving back forever to kids,” he said.
HudHaus is also passionate about being part of the inclusive North Bergen cannabis community.
“I could make $500 million, and I wouldn’t leave this neighborhood,” Lozano declared.
He also mentioned that this has been a long time coming, noting that they secured the property about two-and-a-half years ago before the North Bergen Board of Commissioners granted their approval in March 2022.
“I got arrested 20 years ago across the street for selling weed in Edgewater. I thought it was North Bergen; I’m good here. That kind of motivated me to where I am today,” Diri recalled.
“The cop was like, you’re a criminal. I’m not a criminal. I’m a personal trainer. I want to show people I’m not a bad person.”
He has been a leading figure in the New Jersey cannabis legalization movement, industry, and community for some time now.
With his girlfriend Valencia, they host yoga events under their Sanna Ohana brand, where they promoted the benefits of cannabis and CBD.
Lozano and his business partner Demetrios Kaltsis have been in real estate, architecture, and development in North Bergen for two decades.
Additionally, their final partner, Tony Rutondo had a well-known deli in the township for 22 years, while Diri has been a health and wellness professional in the area for 21 years.
“It’s great to be working with my North Bergen friends, Salam, Tony, Demetrios, and now Vince, as well as our great team of budtenders to provide our customers with the best experience not only in Hudson County but in New Jersey,” Lozano stated.
They are planning a wellness space or a cannabis consumption lounge on the second floor once they receive approval from the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission.
That would also require another affirmative vote from the North Bergen commissioners.
Furthmoere, Valencia said they will be doing yoga and wellness events, as well as brand launch parties, in the space once it is complete.
Customers must show a photo ID showing they are 21 and over to enter the store and make purchases.
HudHaus received the annual NJCRC license required to open in February 2024.
Ohhhhh you aren’t criminals but you have a mural of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar on the wall????? What type of example does this show? That cop was right to call you a criminal
Pablo Escobar mural!!!!!!!!!! Do these fools realize that Escobar blew up an airliner in Colombia to get at one person and killed a hundred passengers, including babies and children. What a disgrace these CRIMINALS would put a mural up to him. These people are sick.
Well I guess technically you could say its in North Bergen but its really in “Edgewater” but Hudson County and N Bergen are getting the taxes great strategic move on N Bergen its completely nowhere near N Bergen’s urban areas