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Press & Media

Coverage, interviews, community stories, and media features highlighting Good Grades and New York cannabis.

Featured In

Featured Coverage

National and regional media coverage highlighting Good Grades and New York's legal cannabis industry.

Forbes

National Media

March 2023

Game Changer: New NYC Dispensary Offers Dime Bags in Queens

Forbes contributor Janet Burns covered Good Grades' Queens launch and the introduction of an affordable dime-bag concept to the legal market. The piece framed the move as a deliberate answer to one of the biggest tensions in New York's adult-use rollout — that legal prices often sit far above what longtime cannabis consumers are used to paying. By offering small, low-cost packs alongside its full menu, Good Grades made legal, lab-tested cannabis reachable for everyday New Yorkers and used the storefront to introduce neighbors to the licensed market.

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Forbes

National Media

January 2024

NYC's Good Grades Dispensary Is A Community Cornerstone

In a follow-up nearly a year later, Forbes revisited Good Grades to look at what changed after the dispensary settled into Jamaica Avenue. The coverage focused on the team's educational approach — staff trained to walk first-time customers through cannabinoids, terpenes, and dosing — and on a customer experience built around long conversations, not transactions. The piece highlighted continued commitment to affordable price points, an expanded product mix from licensed New York cultivators, and the role a single neighborhood dispensary can play in shifting how people relate to legal cannabis.

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NBC News

National Media

March 2023

New York City's Newest Weed Dispensary Opens With Black Woman At Helm

NBC News spotlighted Good Grades' opening as a milestone for representation in New York's adult-use cannabis industry, focusing on Extasy James as one of the first Black women to lead a licensed NYC dispensary. The coverage placed the launch inside the broader CAURD program — New York's deliberate effort to license operators most impacted by prohibition first — and underscored why a Jamaica, Queens address mattered for equity in the rollout. The story framed Good Grades as proof that the promises behind the legal market can show up on a single block.

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New York Daily News

Major Local Media

March 2023

First NY Woman-Owned Marijuana Dispensary Opens In Queens

The Daily News covered Good Grades as the first woman-owned licensed marijuana dispensary to open in New York, anchoring the story in Queens and the broader push for ownership diversity in the new market. The piece noted the community reception on Jamaica Avenue, the regulatory backdrop of the CAURD program, and the significance of a flagship Queens location for a borough long underserved by early legal cannabis retail. It marked a major local-press moment for the launch.

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PIX11

Television News

March 2023

Queens' First Legal Recreational Marijuana Dispensary Set To Open

PIX11 brought television coverage to Good Grades ahead of its Jamaica Avenue opening, highlighting it as the first legal recreational dispensary in Queens. The on-camera segment introduced viewers across the tri-state to the team behind the store, the storefront experience customers could expect, and what it meant for Queens to finally have its own licensed adult-use option after months of headlines centered on Manhattan. The piece helped frame Good Grades as a borough-defining moment in New York's rollout.

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City & State New York

Recognition

October 2023

2023 Political Consultants Power 100

City & State New York's annual Power 100 recognized leadership tied to Good Grades among the most influential political consultants in the state. The list reflects the political-policy work behind the scenes of New York's cannabis rollout, where the difference between a stalled CAURD program and a functioning legal market often comes down to advocacy, coalition building, and direct engagement with state regulators. The recognition underscores Good Grades' connection to the people shaping the legal industry, not just operating inside it.

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Local & Regional Coverage

Epicenter NYC

Local News

2023

On a Jamaica, Queens Block, Legal Cannabis Peacefully Co-Exists With Street Sales at Good Grades

Epicenter NYC took a street-level look at what it actually means to operate a licensed cannabis store on a block where unlicensed sales have existed for years. The piece used Good Grades as a case study in how a legal dispensary can coexist with — and gradually shift — the long-standing informal market around it through fair pricing, lab-tested product, and real conversations with neighbors. It is one of the most grounded local profiles of the dispensary's early days in Jamaica.

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SILive

Regional News

March 2023

First Woman-Owned Weed Dispensary To Open In NYC This Week

Staten Island Advance / SILive carried regional coverage of the Good Grades launch, framing the opening for an outer-borough audience and reinforcing that the first woman-owned licensed dispensary in New York City would land in Queens. The story walked readers through the significance of the CAURD program, the location choice, and what the opening signaled for the rest of New York's still-young legal market.

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National Coverage

TheGrio

National Media

April 2023

First Black Woman-Owned NYC Weed Dispensary Opens

TheGrio reported on Good Grades' opening as a landmark for Black women in cannabis ownership, especially within a national market that has historically excluded the people most affected by the war on drugs. The piece centered the story on representation, equity, and the deliberate design of New York's CAURD licensing pathway. For a national Black audience, the coverage positioned Good Grades as evidence that the legal industry's equity goals are achievable when policy and operators align.

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Original Series

3 Things I Can't Smoke Without

Exclusive interviews filmed at Good Grades with artists, public figures, and cannabis industry leaders — each guest breaks down the three products they can't smoke without.

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Press Inquiries

For interviews, statements, or commentary on the New York adult-use cannabis market, email contact@goodgradesnyc.com. You can also learn more about us on Our Story.