Union Square Travel Agency: A Cannabis Store (USQTA), which has been operating since February and has served more customers than any of New York City’s nine licensed dispensaries in its pop-up space at 62 East 13 St, is expanding its dispensary to a 2800 square foot permanent space at 835 Broadway at 13th St, that will redefine what a dispensary experience is for adult use consumers.
Working with the award-winning architecture firm Leong Leong to create a destination that is inspired by the USQTA brand, the new space will be a portal for discovery, exploration, and education. Drawing inspiration from modernist icons of 20th Century travel architecture, such as Saarinen’s TWA Flight Center, the design of the brand’s first flagship store is equal parts exhibition space, laboratory, and refuge.
Educating customers about the magic of this plant is one of USQTA’s core missions, and this new space features what is believed to be the first “Flower Lounge” of its kind dedicated to immersive cannabis experiences. This 150 square foot room provides a place for both seasoned enthusiasts and novices to learn about the science and biology of the cannabis flower. A key part of the Flower Lounge helps customers explore the seven most common terpenes found in cannabis which have a distinct scent and flavor profile, effect on the endocannabinoid system, and will oftentimes impact the customer’s overall experience more than the product’s THC percentage. One of the Flower Lounge’s highlights will be interactive vitrines featuring cannabis terpenes so that customers can learn and explore the scent profiles of different strains of cannabis which will be matched with New York State flower for purchase.
At the heart of the store lies the centerpiece of the Union Square Travel Agency experience: custom-designed product displays. Here, customers are invited to immerse themselves in a world of cannabis products, individually or with the guidance of the store’s most valuable asset – knowledgeable budtenders who undergo a rigid training and education to be able to help customers maximize their experience. Digital kiosks were meticulously designed to evoke a sense of discovery and wonder, encouraging visitors to engage with the products on display. USQTA has the largest selection of products of the licensed stores in the city. These interactive stations become portals to an array of sensations and possibilities, inviting guests to embark on a personal odyssey of taste, aroma, and effect.
The store will have a luminous ‘cove’ along both sides of the retail floor which creates a cascade of soft wash of light along the walls of the space, endowing the room with an abstracted character and a soothing, ambient glow. Embedded in the wall behind the registers at checkout is a 12-foot-long custom light element that slowly changes color over time, casting an ethereal spell on the space. Illuminated display niches embedded in the walls become focal points, showcasing an array of carefully curated cannabis products, all grown in New York State from a variety of the best farmers.
Arana Hankin-Biggers, President of USQTA said “The design intention for our new space is tranquil, cheeky, unexpected, and approachable. Leong Leong has designed a surreal sanctuary that allows for a fun escape with a nod to retro-futurism. At USQTA, the boundaries between travel, cannabis, and the human spirit blur, inviting all who enter to transcend the ordinary and embrace the extraordinary.
Through our space and our partnership with The Doe Fund, a nonprofit which for the last 30 years has helped to transition formerly incarcerated and homeless to become valuable members of the community and which receives 51% of all proceeds, we are transporting people out of poverty and homelessness and into prosperity and hope. The structure of the legal adult-use cannabis market in New York has a real opportunity for significant social impact and begins to provide support to repair the damage done by the failed war on drugs,” she concluded.
USQTA is open seven days a week with hours Sunday-Thursday from 9am-11pm and Friday-Saturday from 9am-midnight. They also offer delivery throughout Manhattan, parts of west Brooklyn, and parts of south Queens every day from 11 am-midnight. All the products on the store’s site, Union Square Travel Agency: A Cannabis Store are available in store or through delivery.
