It took years of painstaking work for Jamestown’s first cannabis dispensary to open.

Lifted is set to celebrate its first anniversary in August – but in the past year the Main Street shop has been joined by Bob Natural Cannabis Dispensary on East Second Street, the Yeti Greenery in the Third Street Plaza and the Liquid Monkey Cannabis Dispensary on Fluvanna Avenue.

It’s the type of growth former Mayor Eddie Sundquist envisioned when he took an aggressive approach to encouraging cannabis businesses seeking to open in the city shortly after the state legalized adult use of cannabis in 2021. In addition to the dispensaries that are popping up in commercial areas of the city, those businesses have suppliers – many of them local – that have combined to create a new business segment.

We’ll get a better sense now whether or not the state created a situation that will allow legalized cannabis to flourish in New York. As the novelty wears off, we’re curious whether or not legal cannabis products make business sense in a market that includes illegal street dealers who don’t have to charge taxes or deal with state regulations as well as dispensaries located on nearby Native American reservations that don’t have to charge taxes for their products either. We’ll also get a good sense of the market for cannabis products in Jamestown. It’s obvious, judging from the number of people who purchased marijuana illegally over the decades, that there was a market for cannabis. Even in its early days, however, it’s safe to say cannabis legalization has led to the type of small business development in Jamestown that has been lacking for quite some time because it created a niche that the public has long wanted.

Legal cannabis isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but the growth of the legalized cannabis market in Jamestown makes us wonder what the next wave of niche businesses could be that helps bring traffic into business corridors in the city and which fills vacant or underutilized buildings in the city. For better or worse, Jamestown is one of the few places in the southern part of the county where those who want it can get legal cannabis, and that makes Jamestown a destination for some.

It’s obvious there was an untapped market for legal marijuana. Four similar businesses opening within a year is proof of that fact. There has to be a new niche with an untapped market that doesn’t require the state to legalize another formerly illegal product in order to create business growth.