Joe Watson, who spent 18 months behind bars on drug charges, saw the legalization of marijuana as a chance for redemption. When the cannabis market opened in East Orange, he and longtime business partner Novella Dickens were the first applicants in line, hoping to become the first Black-owned dispensary to open in the city.
“It would be a crime for everyone else to take advantage of this industry and not the people who have suffered the most,” Watson said.
The name of their company is Baked Goodz, a play on words. “Baked” is slang for the feel-good effects of pot and “baked goods” refer to the THC-tinged cookies and brownies from ButACake that customers will find on the shelves.
However, the two longtime business partners — Watson is from Orange, Dickens from Newark — have not had an easy road and of all the applicants, they were the last of five to get approvals.
The first problem was finding a retail location for their store — it turns out not everyone wants to get involved in the cannabis industry and those that do tend to jack up their prices.
“We would get one price, then get another price when we said it was a cannabis business,” Watson said. “It’s a shame that one word can make a landlord triple their prices.”
In 2022, the business partners finally found a location at 380 Main Street. But after a year of renting and preparing to open, the city approved another dispensary across the street called Flower Garden at 382 MLK Boulevard.
Unfortunately, the local cannabis ordinance requires that dispensaries be located a certain distance from each other. The Flower Garden’s approval created a conflict for Baked Goodz, requiring them to leave that address and find a new willing landlord.
“Not only did we pay rent there but we did a huge renovation,” Dickens said.
“That set us back because we had to start looking for a new location,” Watson said. “And when we found a new location we had to go back and start the process all over again.”
It is still unclear why Flower Garden got the first approval despite Watson and Dickens being the first applicants in line. Our publication was unable to reach anyone at City Hall or the East Orange Cannabis Board. That said, Flower Garden has two local investors on its team — East Orange natives Dawn Middleton and Jose Rivera join Dana Rone — which certainly made this venture attractive to the local government.
The situation did have a silver lining. Watson and Dickens fortunately found a new home at 484 Main Street, which has been empty since a doctor’s office closed during the pandemic. It’s near two train stations, a major redevelopment project, and has on-site parking — both believe everything happened according to plan.
“That was one of the first buildings we reached out to,” Watson said. “We’re both spiritual people and I believe this is where God wanted us to be.”
In April, the city’s Planning Board finally gave Baked Goodz the approval. HZY Goods at 19 Prospect Street will be the first dispensary in the city to open on Oct. 20. The building that will eventually house Flower Garden is still under construction so it is likely that, despite the challenges, Baked Goodz will be the second to open and the city’s first Black-owned dispensary when all is said and done.
“East Orange is a majority Black city so it’s important to have businesses that represent you,” Dickens said.
Still, the owners hope their story serves as a warning for others wanting to invest in the cannabis industry. Setbacks and high rents have often been factors in the demise of other dispensaries, the most notable being Newark’s HashStoria which got evicted earlier this year.
There is a huge untapped market in East Orange for the right investor if they are able to withstand the potential delays of opening — and that’s a strong “if,” Watson said.
“Most of us don’t have the finances to last this long,” Watson said.
