Paul Szmal: Good morning, it's 8.37, it's FHELX Morning Thursday, and it's been a while since we've talked with this man, Daryl Hilkert, from High Points Dispensary, right around the corner from the mothership here in Geneva. Good morning.
Darryl Hilkert: Good morning, how are you doing? Just step right up to that mic here a little bit more.
Paul Szmal: So, what's been, first off, we don't want to put the jinx in, so there's new news coming soon, but we're not going to get into it today because there's still a couple more little last-second things to be done, but you'll have some exciting news coming soon.
Darryl Hilkert: Yep, hopefully within the next month.
Paul Szmal: So what's been happening lately? I think the last time we talked was probably early this year, like January or February or something.
Darryl Hilkert: Yep, since then we were able to open at the end of March, fully licensed and certified, and things have been great. Business has been booming, lots of new customers, a lot of repeat customers, so things are going real well.
Paul Szmal: That's what I was going to ask you about the customer base. I would imagine that you've probably got some regulars. As cannabis is legal for longer, are you getting the curious that are going, okay, I guess it's going to be cool now? Because we talked about before just that reluctance for a product that was illegal for so many years.
Darryl Hilkert: Oh, absolutely. We get a lot of repeat customers. We get people coming from out of state. We get people that just come in to wander around just to see what it's all about now. It's not just about smoking or anything now. There's lots of things you can use to consume in lots of different forms, and it's just crazy the amount of things that are out there. We have over 500 items in the store.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, the website, by the way, is highpointsdispensary.net, and I was looking at just all the different brands that you offer. So are people, is it like beers? Are people starting to recognize the difference between brands and say, oh, this is the brand that I like?
Darryl Hilkert: Oh, yeah. We have a lot of real popular brands, too, that people, connoisseurs know, different multi-state brands that have been around a long time in the market. So seeing it in New York in our store, people recognize the brands. A lot of them navigate to that, and a lot of them try the new stuff, too.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, of course, for a long time we didn't have the edibles and the liquids and things that we now do. So are you getting some curiosity in those that people that have just smoked leaf over the years say, let me see what this is like?
Darryl Hilkert: Yeah, we do, and it's different. When you consume an edible, it's not the head high. It's more of the body relaxation. I think that's why people go to that form a lot more, feel more comfortable using. It's not like smoking. It kind of takes the stigmatism out of it.
Paul Szmal: And you said you're finding a lot of people with the consumables, it's medical reasons. They're using it for pain relief or sleep aid and that kind of thing.
Darryl Hilkert: Absolutely.
Paul Szmal: So where is the future going in this industry?
Darryl Hilkert: I think it's endless. There's more and more cultivators and processors being licensed all the time, new businesses opening. We have vendors that come to our store every week still. We're into month seven right now of being open, and we still have vendors trying to get in the store, and I'm out of space. So we've packed a lot of different people in there, a lot of vendors, a lot of products, but we want to have the biggest selection available for our customers and something for everybody.
Paul Szmal: Are you finding that it's mostly an older demographic, it's the 40 and up for the most part?
Darryl Hilkert: Yep, it still is. I'd say probably 80% of our demographic is 40 and above still. We do get some of the younger crowd, but not as much as you would think. I think they're probably still hitting a lot of the black market stores and stuff.
Paul Szmal: So we're, and I forgot how long it's been now, since it was at the beginning of 2022 that the law was passed, or 2023, it's been a while anyway, and we still have all these unlicensed shops. As somebody who's done it the right way and had to wait and jump through hoops and everything, what are your thoughts about these unlicensed people out there still trying to get around the law?
Darryl Hilkert: You're always going to have people selling it, you know, unlicensed, but to have a business doing it, those guys, they may be around for a while, but as you're seeing even on the news and stuff, some of these guys that have done it for a few years and they were shut down and wouldn't listen and stayed open, they're getting hit hard. I mean, these guys have made their money. The smart ones, once they get shut down, will either just move to a different location or something, but stay under the radar. But if they just stay open, they're going to end up paying huge money in fines. I mean, we've seen it with a few different people that have been in the industry. They thought they were doing everything the right way, but you can't run a bar without a liquor license, so you just can't do it.
Paul Szmal: Do you have any on-site premises or lounge kind of area, or is it strictly retail, buy and go?
Darryl Hilkert: It's just retail. Any thoughts of doing anything like that in the future? We'd like to do a consumption lounge, but still waiting on all the regulations and everything for that in New York. Once we're able to do that, I'm sure, I don't know if we'd have space in this building, but it's something that I would consider having.
Paul Szmal: So take us through the customer experience. I walk in, first time, last time I've consumed was 40 years ago when I was 20-something. Take us through the process of how your people help guide the selection and the experience.
Darryl Hilkert: When you walk in the store, you walk into our waiting area. It's very similar to walking into a doctor's office or something like that. You have a check-in window. We check you in, we look at your ID, make sure you're 21. You come through a secured door that we let you in. We have three butt-tenders on the floor at all times. Everybody's welcomed in. If you know what you're looking for, a lot of repeat customers, they go right to what they want and tell us and we just grab it. We still get a lot of new people still coming in, just checking stuff out. People just want to browse around, we let them go. If they want somebody to walk around with them and explain different things to them, because there are so many different items out there now that I've never seen, it's amazing. We've got three butt-tenders on the floor. Take as much time as you want. We've got rotating menus up on screens for pricing and stuff like that. Everything's on live display in locked glass cases. You can check us out on Facebook or our website. You can kind of see what goes on in there before you come. It's a comfortable experience. People feel comfortable coming in, safe. Try to keep a nice clean environment. Keep it as a nice place to come and shop and get what you like and enjoy your day.
Paul Szmal: Darrell comes with us from High Points Dispensary. HighPointsDispensary.net is the website. In terms of smokable leaf product, who are the growers? Is there an industry popping up in New York? Are we seeing more local growers and is it outdoor or indoor or hothouse? Where does the product come from?
Darryl Hilkert: There's actually a lot of places, even locally right around here, within a couple of miles from the studio in my store. They're everywhere. A lot of people don't even realize they're right in our backyards. A lot of local cultivators. We get products from them and they also send products to processors and they're everywhere too. They're in Rochester and Syracuse and just all over the place. They process it into different products and they wholesale the stuff to us and we retail it out.
Paul Szmal: When this first started, I think people were kind of reluctant because it had been illegal for so long and you're used to glancing over your shoulder to see where the cops are. Are people overcoming that reluctance now and just treating this like they would a bar and having beer or wine?
Darryl Hilkert: I think with the consumables, people feel more comfortable because they're not walking out and lighting up a joint or a bowl or something and then you've got the smoke and the smell. A lot of people frown because they don't like the smell. It's like a cigarette. If you're a smoker, you don't mind it but if you're not, people just don't like that. So being out in public, you can have a drink, you can have a gummy, you can have a piece of chocolate. We've got honey lozenges. It's endless how you can consume. We've got little packets you can take into a restaurant or a bar and put it in your drink and infuse your own drink. It's that simple. You can sit anywhere and consume without anybody even knowing you're consuming.
Paul Szmal: So what's your elevator speech for somebody that's never been in, kind of thinking about it, gee, maybe I should go check this out?
Darryl Hilkert: Stop in, check it out. We welcome everybody. It's all about the customer experience and the education. That's our biggest thing is educating people on what is in the products. Different cannabinoids do different things. So you've got to find those products that have what you're looking for.
Paul Szmal: I keep hearing comparisons of the potency of the smokable product today versus what it was in the black market 30, 40 years ago. Is it more potent now or less potent regulated by the state or the same or do we know?
Darryl Hilkert: I think just the grow is done professionally now. So it's not like something you're just growing in your backyard.
Paul Szmal: That's true, yeah. I mean, for the last 20, 30 years, you either had dirt brick weed or the brown weed that was full of seeds and stalks that you used your album or a magazine to get all this stuff off it. Or it was some really good homegrown that somebody you knew might have grown in their backyard. Yeah, now that there's not film anymore, you don't have those little plastic film canisters anymore.
Darryl Hilkert: Right. Actually, a lot of the manufacturers, they use very similar packaging to that and stick their stickers on them. So little jars are a big thing for how it's packaged.
Paul Szmal: All right, Darrell's been with us. High Points Dispensary right around the corner on Hamilton Street. HighPointsDispensary.net. Thanks for your advertising business. We appreciate that and thanks for coming in again. It's always good to talk.
Darryl Hilkert: Good to see you too.
Paul Szmal: All right, let us know when that new news becomes official and we'll talk about that.
Darryl Hilkert: You got it. Thanks.
Paul Szmal: It is 8.48 now, FLX morning.
