Research /Research
Who Actually Runs New York’s Dispensaries?
57 multi-location operators control 186 of the state’s 634 selling dispensaries and 37% of the money. Two stores on Long Island out-sell entire regions. Here’s the full map of who owns what — and how each one is doing.
New York wrote its cannabis law to keep Big Weed out. The MRTA caps any one person at three adult-use retail licenses, the medical operators were limited to a handful of co-located stores, and the first licenses went to people with cannabis convictions, not to the multi-state operators who dominate Florida or Illinois. Three and a half years in, the question is whether that worked — and what a “chain” even looks like in a state built to prevent them.
So we went store by store. Using Lit Alerts’ New York market data sets — daily, store-level sales estimates built by sampling dispensary menus — we took every one of the 634 dispensaries that recorded sales between January 1 and September 17, 2026, matched each to its region, and grouped them by the name on the door, folding in the handful of stores that operate under a chain’s umbrella with a different sign. Any group with two or more stores counts as a chain.
The short version: chains are a bigger deal than the law intended, but not in the way you’d expect. The biggest “chain” in New York by sales has three stores. The biggest by store count has eighteen — and sells less per store than almost anyone.
The market in one picture
Of 634 stores, 186 belong to one of 57 chains. That’s 29% of the doors. Those 186 stores sold $456 million through September 17 — 37% of the state’s $1.22 billion. The other 448 stores are single-location independents, and they sold $766 million between them.
| Chains (2+ locations) | Independents | |
|---|---|---|
| Share of stores | 29% | 71% |
| Share of sales | 37% | 63% |
The chain premium is real but modest at the median: the typical chain location has sold $1.37 million this year against $1.17 million for the typical independent, a 16% edge. The averages are further apart ($2.45 million vs $1.71 million) because a few chain stores are enormous — which brings us to Long Island.
The biggest chains by sales
Rank the 57 chains by total sales and the top of the list looks nothing like a franchise map.
| Est. YTD sales | |
|---|---|
| Strain Stars | $62.5M |
| The Travel Agency | $41.6M |
| The Flowery | $27.5M |
| Curaleaf | $25M |
| RISE (Green Thumb) | $23.4M |
| Canna Planet | $19.2M |
| Flynnstoned | $16.3M |
| Cannabis Realm | $13.1M |
| MJ Dispensary | $12.5M |
| Indoor Treez (Indoors) | $10.6M |
| Canna Blooms | $10.5M |
| Verilife (PharmaCann) | $10.4M |
| ZenZest | $8.8M |
| Beleaf | $8M |
| Kaya Bliss Dispensary | $7.9M |
| State of Mind Dispensary | $7.8M |
| Farmers Choice Dispensary | $7.7M |
| Green Flower Wellness | $7M |
| Terp Bros | $6.9M |
| Silver Therapeutics | $6.7M |
1. Strain Stars — $62.5 million, 3 stores. New York’s biggest chain is a three-store operation on Long Island and in White Plains. Its Farmingdale store is the single biggest dispensary in the state at $48.2 million; Riverhead adds $11.1 million. That’s $20.8 million per location, roughly 17 times the median store.
2. The Travel Agency — $41.6 million, 4 stores. The Manhattan and Brooklyn operator has the #3 and #4 stores in the state (Downtown Brooklyn $16.2 million, Union Square $15.4 million), plus Fifth Avenue and Soho. $10.4 million per location.
3. The Flowery — $27.5 million, 12 stores. The first true retail chain on the list: five stores in Manhattan, two on Staten Island, two in the Mid-Hudson, one each in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx. $2.3 million per location.
4. Curaleaf — $25.0 million, 4 stores. The largest multi-state operator in the country runs four adult-use stores here (Newburgh, Queens, Carle Place, Plattsburgh) and does $6.3 million per location — the best per-store number of any operator with more than three stores.
5. RISE (Green Thumb) — $23.4 million, 5 stores. Henrietta, Halfmoon and East Syracuse, plus two medical-only locations. $4.7 million per location.
6. Canna Planet — $19.2 million, 9 stores. A Hudson Valley chain — seven of nine stores are in the Mid-Hudson region — averaging $2.1 million each.
7. Flynnstoned — $16.3 million, 18 stores. The largest footprint in the state, and the lowest sales per location in the top 20: $903,000.
8–9. Cannabis Realm ($13.1 million, 3 stores) and MJ Dispensary ($12.5 million, four stores around Rochester).
10. Indoors — $10.6 million, 6 stores. The Manhattan-born group runs Indoor Treez on 8th Avenue and Fashion Avenue, Strains For Life on Broadway at 145th, The Sanctuary Garden on the Upper West Side, and Indoor Treez Howard Beach and The Unit in Bellerose, Queens.
| Est. YTD sales | |
|---|---|
| 8th Ave | $3.53M |
| Strains For Life | $3.05M |
| Fashion Ave | $1.84M |
| The Sanctuary Garden | $1.09M |
| Howard Beach | $0.79M |
| The Unit (Bellerose) | $0.34M |
The top five chains together are 14.7% of the state; the top ten are 20.6%. And the five legacy medical operators that were allowed into adult-use — Curaleaf, Green Thumb, PharmaCann, iAnthus (Be.) and Vireo — hold 20 stores and 5.3% of sales combined. The multi-state operators are here. They are not in charge.
The biggest chains by store count
Sort the same list by number of locations and the order flips.
| Locations | |
|---|---|
| Flynnstoned | 18 |
| The Flowery | 12 |
| Canna Planet | 9 |
| Indoor Treez (Indoors) | 6 |
| RISE (Green Thumb) | 5 |
| Just a Little Higher | 5 |
| The Travel Agency | 4 |
| Curaleaf | 4 |
| MJ Dispensary | 4 |
| Verilife (PharmaCann) | 4 |
| Gotham | 4 |
| Vireo Health (Vireo Growth) | 4 |
Flynnstoned has 18 stores selling — five around Syracuse, four in Rochester, four in Manhattan, and one each in Binghamton, Buffalo, Bay Ridge, Staten Island and Astoria. The Flowery has 12. Canna Planet has 9. Indoors has 6, four of them in Manhattan.
Remember the three-license cap. Flynnstoned’s 18 stores and The Flowery’s 12 are not 18 or 12 licenses held by one company. In the state’s license records, the Flynnstoned name appears on stores held by 16 different entities and The Flowery name on stores held by 12 — the chain is a brand and an operating partner across many separately licensed shops. That’s the model New York’s rules produce: growth by brand and management agreement, not by ownership.
Per location, the picture inverts
Total sales reward footprint. Sales per location reward something else.
| Sales per location | |
|---|---|
| Strain Stars | $20.83M |
| The Travel Agency | $10.41M |
| Curaleaf | $6.25M |
| RISE (Green Thumb) | $4.68M |
| ZenZest | $4.4M |
| Cannabis Realm | $4.35M |
| Kaya Bliss Dispensary | $3.96M |
| State of Mind Dispensary | $3.92M |
| Farmers Choice Dispensary | $3.85M |
| Canna Blooms | $3.5M |
| Terp Bros | $3.45M |
| NY Cannabis Co. | $3.28M |
The per-store leaders are small and geographically protected: Strain Stars ($20.8 million per location), The Travel Agency ($10.4 million), Curaleaf ($6.3 million), RISE ($4.7 million), ZenZest and Cannabis Realm ($4.4 million each). Every one of them sits in a market where the nearest competitor is far away, either because of Long Island’s opt-outs or because of Westchester and Rockland’s thin coverage.
The 25 biggest stores
Chains own 14 of the 25 largest dispensaries. Long Island owns the top of the list outright.
| Est. YTD sales | |
|---|---|
| Strain Stars - Farmingdale | $48.2M |
| Happy Days Dispensary | $44.4M |
| The Travel Agency - Downtown Brooklyn | $16.2M |
| The Travel Agency - Union Square | $15.4M |
| Long Island Cannabis Club | $12.9M |
| Strain Stars - Riverhead | $11.1M |
| Planet Nugg | $10.3M |
| Canna Blooms - Farmingville | $10.1M |
| Curaleaf - Newburg | $10M |
| Cannabis Realm - White Plains | $9.9M |
| RISE - Henrietta | $8.4M |
| My Sesh | $8.3M |
| MJ Dispensary - Henrietta | $8.3M |
| RISE - Halfmoon Clifton Park | $7.7M |
| Strong Strains | $7.2M |
| Treehouse - Nyack | $7M |
| Sacred Bloom | $6.7M |
| Farmers Choice Dispensary - Fishkill | $6.5M |
| Qube - Manhattan | $6.5M |
| Lenox Hill Cannabis Co. | $6.4M |
| Housing Works - Broadway | $6.3M |
| Cannadreams - NYC | $6.3M |
| Curaleaf - Queens | $6.2M |
| ZenZest - Queens | $6.2M |
| The Travel Agency - Fifth Avenue | $5.9M |
Strain Stars Farmingdale ($48.2 million) and Happy Days ($44.4 million), both in Farmingdale, are the two biggest stores in the state by a mile — together they’ve sold more than the entire Bronx, Staten Island, Mohawk Valley or North Country regions. Six of the top ten are on Long Island; the top ten stores together are 15.4% of the state’s sales.
Where the chains are — and aren’t
| Chain share of sales | |
|---|---|
| Staten Island | 53% |
| Long Island | 49% |
| Manhattan | 44% |
| Brooklyn | 41% |
| Finger Lakes | 39% |
| Queens | 38% |
| Central NY | 37% |
| Capital District | 36% |
| Mid-Hudson | 35% |
| Bronx | 23% |
| North Country | 23% |
| Western NY | 17% |
| Southern Tier | 9% |
| Mohawk Valley | 5% |
Staten Island is the most chain-dominated region in the state: six of its 14 stores are chain locations and they take 53% of the borough’s sales, led by The Flowery’s two stores at $8.9 million. Long Island is next at 49%. Manhattan is 44% chain by sales (39 of 95 stores), Brooklyn 41%, Finger Lakes 39%, Queens 38%, Central NY 37%.
At the other end, Mohawk Valley (5% chain), the Southern Tier (10%) and Western NY (17%) are almost entirely independent. Buffalo, Rochester’s western suburbs, Utica, Binghamton — that’s where the single-store operators still own the market.
| Chain locations | Independents | |
|---|---|---|
| Manhattan | $2.51M | $2.24M |
| Mid-Hudson | $2.61M | $1.84M |
| Long Island | $11.57M | $6.93M |
| Capital District | $2.12M | $1.57M |
| Brooklyn | $2.17M | $1.12M |
| Queens | $1.8M | $1.16M |
| Finger Lakes | $2.08M | $1.54M |
| Western NY | $1.21M | $1.18M |
| Central NY | $1.79M | $1.79M |
| Southern Tier | $0.64M | $1.67M |
| Bronx | $1.31M | $1.86M |
| Staten Island | $2.33M | $1.58M |
| Mohawk Valley | $1.21M | $1.9M |
| North Country | $2.09M | $1.39M |
The gap is widest on Long Island (chain locations average $11.6 million vs $6.9 million for independents), in Brooklyn ($2.2 million vs $1.1 million) and Queens ($1.9 million vs $1.1 million). But in four regions the independents win: Central NY is a dead heat, the Mohawk Valley has exactly one chain store, and in the Bronx and Southern Tier the chain locations are mostly newer or smaller outposts — in the Southern Tier the average chain store did $643,000 against $1.7 million for an independent.
Who’s the biggest in each region
| Est. YTD sales | |
|---|---|
| Manhattan — The Travel Agency | $25.4M |
| Mid-Hudson — Canna Planet | $17.2M |
| Long Island — Strain Stars | $59.3M |
| Capital District — State of Mind | $7.8M |
| Brooklyn — The Travel Agency | $16.2M |
| Queens — Green Flower Wellness | $7M |
| Finger Lakes — MJ Dispensary | $12.5M |
| Western NY — East Leaf | $3.6M |
| Central NY — Flynnstoned | $6.3M |
| Southern Tier — Flynnstoned | $1.1M |
| Bronx — CONBUD | $2.5M |
| Staten Island — The Flowery | $8.9M |
| Mohawk Valley — Canna Planet | $1.2M |
| North Country — Curaleaf | $3.6M |
Strain Stars is the giant of Long Island — its two stores there are 36% of the entire region’s sales. The Flowery is the biggest chain on Staten Island (33% of the borough). Curaleaf is the biggest chain in the North Country on the strength of a single Plattsburgh store. MJ Dispensary owns 18% of the Finger Lakes with four Rochester-area stores. Flynnstoned is the top chain in Central NY and the Southern Tier. The Travel Agency leads both Manhattan and Brooklyn. Canna Planet leads the Mid-Hudson and, with a single Herkimer store, the Mohawk Valley.
Who’s gaining and who’s slipping
| Change in sales per day | |
|---|---|
| Flynnstoned | 215% |
| Dagmar Cannabis | 58% |
| Canna Planet | 38% |
| Happy Munkey | 27% |
| Silver Therapeutics | 21% |
| East Leaf Dispensary | 17% |
| Beleaf | -10% |
| Dazed | -12% |
| The Travel Agency | -15% |
| Indoor Treez (Indoors) | -33% |
Flynnstoned is the runaway mover: its 13 full-year locations ran 215% faster over the summer than the rest of the year, which is what a chain in the middle of a rollout looks like. Dagmar Cannabis (+58%), Canna Planet (+38%), Happy Munkey (+27%) and Silver Therapeutics (+21%) are the other gainers.
Two chains are losing ground. Indoors’ two locations that were open before 2026 ran 33% slower over the summer than earlier in the year, even as the group added new stores. And the other is the one you’d least expect: The Travel Agency, down 15% across its four stores. Its Downtown Brooklyn flagship — still the third-largest store in the state — ran 23% below its earlier pace. This is what new competition in Manhattan and Brooklyn does to a first mover.
Every region, by the money
| Est. YTD sales | |
|---|---|
| Manhattan | $223.2M |
| Mid-Hudson | $170.6M |
| Long Island | $164.1M |
| Capital District | $128.2M |
| Brooklyn | $115.3M |
| Queens | $100.4M |
| Finger Lakes | $68.6M |
| Western NY | $65.1M |
| Central NY | $43M |
| Southern Tier | $40.6M |
| Bronx | $33.9M |
| Staten Island | $26.6M |
| Mohawk Valley | $24M |
| North Country | $18M |
For anyone opening a store, that last part is the lesson. Same product, same prices, same rules — a six-to-one gap that comes down to how many other stores your town let in.
About the numbers: sales figures are Lit Alerts’ New York store-level sales estimates for January 1 – September 17, 2026 (634 dispensaries), derived from daily sampling of public dispensary menus — estimates, not point-of-sale data. A “chain” is any group with two or more selling stores; groups follow the store name and, for the legacy medical operators, the parent company (RISE = Green Thumb, Verilife = PharmaCann, Be. = iAnthus/Citiva, Vireo Health = Vireo Growth). Two RISE locations are medical-only. Regions follow the Office of Cannabis Management’s planning regions with New York City split into boroughs. Momentum compares sales per day for May 5 – August 2 with the rest of the year, only for locations open before 2026. MRTA § 72 limits any person to a financial interest in three adult-use retail dispensary licenses.
