There are dispensaries, and then there is Seaweed.
Tucked into the Rockaway Peninsula at 73-13 Beach Channel Drive in Arverne, New York, Seaweed RBNY opened its doors in December 2025 as Rockaway Beach’s largest cannabis dispensary. From the moment you step inside, it is clear that size was never the point. What Seaweed built is something far harder to replicate than square footage: a space that actually feels like it belongs to the neighborhood it serves.
The interior leans into what the founding team calls an “upscale coastal” aesthetic, with sandy tones, ocean blues, open sightlines and beachy details that make the space feel bright and easy to be in. No harsh lighting. No velvet ropes. No intimidating counters separating staff from customers. Just a calm, welcoming environment where adults 21 and up can explore cannabis at their own pace, guided by people who genuinely want to help.
In a legal cannabis market still finding its footing, that kind of intentionality is rarer than it sounds. New York dispensaries have proliferated rapidly since the state began issuing adult-use licenses, and with that growth has come a wide range of experiences, some clinical, some chaotic, some more focused on moving product than on the people buying it. Seaweed is a deliberate departure from all of that.
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For founder Adam Linet, the vision started long before the doors opened. In mid-2021, as New York moved toward legalizing adult-use cannabis, Linet began quietly laying groundwork. He researched the regulatory landscape, connected with lawyers, architects, vendors and OCM representatives, and spent years shaping a concept that could match both the scale of the building and the expectations of the community. The name Seaweed came up during a casual gathering with his team from his other Rockaway venture, Vino by the Sea, and it stuck immediately. It was coastal. It was easy. It was completely theirs.
“I had been hanging out with my staff and kicking names around,” Linet recalls. “The name Seaweed emerged and immediately resonated as the perfect name.”
What followed was more than four years of coordination with the Office of Cannabis Management, architects, contractors, landlords and licensing attorneys. It was a long and winding road that many aspiring operators in New York never complete. Seaweed did. And the patience behind that journey is visible in every detail of the finished space.
A Dispensary Built by the Community, For the Community
What makes Seaweed truly distinct is not just its aesthetic or its product selection. It is the story of how it came to exist at all.
Linet and his wife Sam, along with close friends Patti DiBart and Kevin Joyce, formed a founding group early in the process and made a deliberate decision to bring the community into the project from the start. They opened Seaweed to investment from the people around them—neighbors, friends and family members who had spent years together on the beach, at parties, at weddings, in the rhythms of Rockaway life. Today, 40 community members hold an investment stake in the dispensary, making it one of the most genuinely community-owned cannabis businesses in the state of New York.
“In the post-Covid isolation era, we neighbors actually like each other and enjoy spending time together,” Linet says. “It’s a project that was born of the love we all have for where we live. Seaweed brings us all pride for being locally owned and operated.”
Kevin Joyce, who serves as Treasurer, brings over 25 years of public accounting experience and 15 years as Executive Vice President at Citco Fund Services to the team. A Rockaway community member since 2015, his financial expertise and neighborhood roots reflect the kind of leadership combination Seaweed was built on. This is not outside capital coming in to open a cannabis store. It is a Rockaway institution built by Rockaway people.
That collective ownership tis reflected throughout the store. Every design decision, every piece of copy, and every staff interaction was shaped through the same community lens. The physical space was intentionally designed to mirror the experience customers encountered across Seaweed’s website, brand collateral, and educational materials, creating a seamless transition from online to in-store.
Consistency between the brand story and the in-store reality was never an afterthought—it was the foundation.
Entering a Market That Needed a Different Kind of Dispensary
Seaweed entered Rockaway Beach at a genuinely complex moment in New York’s cannabis landscape.
The adult-use market was young, highly regulated, and still building consumer trust. In Rockaway specifically, legal cannabis options were limited while legacy and informal channels had long-standing relationships with local buyers. Many residents were familiar with cannabis itself but far less familiar with what a fully licensed, compliant dispensary actually looks like, how it operates, what it can and cannot say, and why choosing a legal option matters.
At the same time, New York’s regulatory environment made it genuinely difficult to build a dispensary with personality. Strict rules around advertising, in-store experience, and customer communication can easily push operators toward bland, generic presentations that do little to earn real loyalty. Seaweed’s founding team understood that the compliance challenge and the brand challenge were the same challenge: How do you build something trustworthy and legally sound that still feels warm, local and worth returning to?
Their answer was to make the brand itself the differentiator. Rather than competing on product selection or price alone, Seaweed invested in building a brand experience so cohesive and community-rooted that it would be genuinely difficult to replicate. The store would be Rockaway’s dispensary, not a dispensary that happened to be located in Rockaway.
Cannabis Without the Intimidation
Seaweed serves a remarkably diver customer base. There are veterans and longtime consumers alongside curious newcomers testing the waters for the first time. Some are returning after years away, now comfortable revisiting cannabis in a legal, regulated market. Others are locals stopping in after work, beachgoers wandering in from the boardwalk, or day-trippers the Rockaway community affectionately calls “DFDs”—short for “Down for the Dayers”—who discover Seaweed while visiting the peninsula.
What unites them is a desire for clarity and comfort, and that is exactly what Seaweed delivers. The staff approaches every interaction with education at the center. Products are explained in plain language, organized so customers can navigate by format, comfort level or occasion. There are no upsells disguised as recommendations. No pressure to make a decision faster than someone is ready to. Just honest, helpful conversations.
Educational materials throughout the store continue that approach. Cards and signage explain key concepts, product types, and effects in friendly, accessible language—the same tone that Seaweed uses online, in its blog, and across its social presence. Seaweed has quickly been recognized as a place where people feel comfortable asking questions, bringing friends who are new to cannabis, and returning as their knowledge and preferences develop.
What’s on the Shelves
Seaweed carries a thoughtfully curated selection of cannabis products sourced exclusively from licensed New York cultivators and producers. The full lineup spans flower, pre-rolls, edibles, cannabis beverages, vapes, concentrates, and topicals, with a rotating roster of brands that gives regulars a reason to see what is new every time they stop in.
Linet describes their curation approach as intentional rather than exhaustive. The brands Seaweed chooses to carry tend to prioritize local New York cultivation, small-batch or craft growing practices, careful cannabinoid and terpene formulation, and transparency around sourcing and production. It is the same philosophy Linet has applied for years at Vino by the Sea, where he built a following by championing smaller producers and helping customers understand what they were actually drinking.
“As someone who also sells boutique wine and spirits, it’s great to see our Seaweed customers really gravitate toward some of the micro and smaller producers we carry in-store,” he says. “Customers have been excited to see what new drops we get every week.”
For newer consumers, the team often points toward low-dose edibles or cannabis beverages, lighter, more sessionable formats that allow people to ease in at their own comfort level. Pre-rolls are a natural fit for social settings and beach days. Flower appeals to experienced consumers who know exactly what they want. The breadth of the selection means there is genuinely something for every kind of visit.
Beyond cannabis products, Seaweed also carries its own line of branded merchandise and accessories, pieces designed to reflect the brand’s coastal aesthetic and local pride. Merch is available in-store, through the Seaweed app, and via nationwide shipping online, extending the brand into everyday life well beyond Rockaway’s borders.
Soft Living, Rooted in Rockaway
One of the more distinctive things about Seaweed is how it frames the cannabis experience—not as a recreational escape from everyday life, but as a natural, seamlessly integrated part of it.
The brand draws deeply on what it calls “soft living,” a philosophy of intentional, low-pressure enjoyment that mirrors the Rockaway way of life. It is the cannabis equivalent of the Sunday farmer’s market, the slow morning coffee, the end-of-week decompression ritual. Seaweed speaks to customers who want cannabis to feel like it belongs in that world.
That local identity extends well beyond the store walls. Seaweed publishes a dedicated Rockaway Beach guide on its website, highlighting local spots, food, culture and things to do, positioning the dispensary as a plugged-in neighborhood voice, not just a retailer operating in the area. A monthly “What’s Happening in Rockaway” social series spotlights events, gatherings and seasonal highlights tied to the community’s rhythm throughout the year.
Industry trends align closely with how Seaweed has positioned itself. More adults are incorporating cannabis into wellness routines, social gatherings and everyday moments rather than treating it as a standalone activity. Low-dose formats and sessionable beverages have grown in popularity precisely because they fit naturally into the flow of daily life. Seaweed was built for exactly this consumer moment, approachable by design, educational by default, and local by choice.
Poseidon Club: Loyalty That Feels Like Belonging
Customers who want to deepen their relationship with Seaweed can join the Poseidon Club, the dispensary’s loyalty program available through the Seaweed app. The program offers exclusive offers, member perks and rewards that grow with each visit, a meaningful way to recognize and give back to the community members who have made Seaweed part of their routine.
The Seaweed app itself is central to the brand experience. Customers can browse the current product selection, place orders for in-store pickup or local delivery, and manage their Poseidon Club membership all in one place. Delivery is available within permitted areas across Rockaway Beach, Queens, and Nassau County, making Seaweed accessible well beyond the physical store.
For Linet, the loyalty program is about more than retention metrics. It is about building the kind of ongoing relationship between a neighborhood business and its regulars that is used to define local retail, and that cannabis, as a still-maturing industry, has rarely had the runway to develop.
A New York Cannabis Story Still Being Written
Linet is candid about the broader challenges New York cannabis operators are navigating. Strict advertising restrictions, uneven ecommerce infrastructure, and a still-developing regulatory landscape have created real friction for dispensaries trying to build sustainable businesses.
“I hope that some of the barriers that have been created with legislation, or the lack thereof, start to clear up,” he says. “From onerous advertising rules to clunky ecommerce to an easier ability to pay in store.”
Despite those headwinds, his outlook is clear-eyed and optimistic. He sees the next phase of New York’s cannabis market as one defined by local identity, where community-rooted dispensaries build real loyalty, and where education and programming become the defining differentiator between the businesses that last and those that do not.
“As legalization settles in, more adults who were previously hesitant are becoming curious,” he says. “They want guidance and a comfortable environment to learn. People want to understand what they’re consuming and how different products fit into their lifestyle. Clear, honest education will matter more and more.”
Looking ahead, Seaweed is focused on deepening its Rockaway roots, building relationships with other local businesses, expanding community education programming, and growing its presence across the borough and beyond. Multi-location growth is on the horizon. An event space, as regulations allow, is part of the longer-term vision.
Whatever comes next, the foundation is a business genuinely built by and accountable to the people it serves. “To give a truly elevated experience to those who have had to previously purchase cannabis in the shadows is a joy to see every day,” Linet says.
For adults 21+ in Rockaway Beach, Queens, and Nassau County, Seaweed is already exactly that, and it is only just getting started.
The post Meet Seaweed: Rockaway Beach’s Premier Cannabis Dispensary appeared first on Cannabis Now.
