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Mike Flynn’s entry into the legal marijuana business in Central New York has been more successful than he expected.
Now he wants to take that success statewide.
He said his retail business, FlynnStoned Cannabis Co. in Syracuse’s Armory Square, generated $30 million in gross sales in its first year, from June 2023 to June 2024. He had anticipated about $7 or $8 million in sales for the year.
He’s now working to open two other FlynnStoned shops. One will be in the former Pope’s Grove Golf Course on State Fair Boulevard in Lakeland, where he staged a temporary shop during the 2023 New York State Fair. A second shop is under development in Manhattan.
Although the state’s marijuana laws essentially prohibit one owner from operating more than three shops, Flynn has come up with another way to expand his brand.
It involves sharing his success with other entrepreneurs.
Flynn is currently consulting with up to 30 existing or soon-to-open retail dispensaries in the state. He’s helping them through the difficult issues of lining up suppliers, finding financing and navigating the often murky state cannabis laws.
In return, he gets a consulting fee and offers them a brand-licensing opportunity. Each will be operated under the FlynnStoned name. But Flynn is not a direct investor in those shops, nor are they operated as franchises.
The plan could put Flynn’s business name on retail dispensaries in almost every corner of New York state. Among those expected to open this year are shops in Rochester, Oswego and Binghamton and several in New York City. Another, near Buffalo, is rebranding as FlynnStoned soon.
“I made my dream come true,” Flynn said. “It’s now my dream to help others make their come true. That’s a special feeling.”
While FlynnStoned is not the only brand seeking to expand in the state, Flynn’s efforts have caught the attention of the state’s cannabis industry, said Joe Rossi, the Syracuse-based Cannabis Practice Group Leader at Park Strategies, a statewide lobbying firm.
“Brand name marketing is as old as retail itself,” Rossi said. “Mike is a savvy operator and he knows how to make money. He found an opportunity to spread his brand by trying to help others grow.”
Tim Spillett of Camillus makes a purchase during the soft opening at FlynnStoned in Syracuse’s Armory Square. June 13, 2023. Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com
‘Connecting the dots’
The state now has more than 200 open licensed shops, or dispensaries, selling recreational marijuana, according to a recent report from the state Office of Cannabis Management. Yet there are still more than 1,000 that have received preliminary licensing, but haven’t yet opened.
Flynn said he’s particularly interested in helping people, who, like himself, were in the initial round of potential retailers after the state legalized marijuana in 2021.
That group, the Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) licensees, were people who had been convicted of marijuana crimes in the past or who had close relatives who had been convicted.
But the transition of those licenses into actual open businesses has been slow due to several lawsuits and other delays. One of the obstacles was the state’s failure to provide a promised fund to help the businesses get started.
Flynn, who has a marijuana conviction in his past, said he was more “fortunate” than many of those trying to open retail shops.
Before he started in the cannabis business, Flynn was already a successful business operator, as the owner of The Roofing Guys, a Central New York contracting business.
That gave him enough start-up money and business experience to open the FlynnStoned dispensary at 219 Walton St. in June 2023. At that time, it was the first legal retail shop in Onondaga County and just the 10th in the entire state.
“I was fortunate enough in my life to get that good business experience with the roofing company that I grew here in Central New York,” Flynn said. “But a lot of these guys didn’t get that business experience. So when the state money didn’t come through, combined with their lack of experience, they were sort of stuck.“
Flynn decided that he could help by “connecting the dots.”
“I’m getting the guy with the CAURD license together with the businessman / investor,” he said. “The deal for me is I’m connecting the dots and then they’re making their business part of FlynnStoned.“
Robert Grannis, who first received a CAURD license in 2022, hopes to open his FlynnStoned shop in Binghamton by Christmas. He said it wouldn’t have happened without Flynn’s help.
Although he has had an interest in selling marijuana, Grannis said he knew very little about finding suppliers, equipping his shop and dealing with the regulations. Plus, he didn’t have a lot of money
“I didn’t really have the pocketbook for it,“ said Grannis, whose business experience has been selling produce at farm markets. ”It’s been a long road since I got that license, but with all the delays I’ve been living on my savings. It’s frustrating.“
Then he visited FlynnStoned in Syracuse.
“I saw that and I thought, ‘I need to copy that,’ “ he said. ”What Mike is doing is phenomenal.”
He made contact and soon struck a deal with Flynn
“Mike is basically running the strongest store in Upstate New York,” Grannis said. “Now he’s helping me with all those things I just didn’t know. He literally took all the stress off me. And the best thing is I can use that name, FlynnStoned, which is really the best brand in the state.”
Flynn is also striking deals with some shop owners who applied after the CAURD licenses were approved. That include Darrell Pfiffner, who hopes open his FlynnStoned dispensary at 143 George St. in Oswego by Thanksgiving.
“We’d been following Mike and saw what he’s done with his brand,” said Pfiffner, who made contact with Flynn through a friend. “What he’s done for us is just streamline everything. And getting that brand is huge.”
Flynn acknowledges the rollout of New York’s legal retail marijuana industry has been bumpier than expected. But he believes it can only get better going forward.
“There’s still a lot of opportunity out there,“ he said. ”It’s a beautiful industry to be in. I’m not saying I’m perfect at this, but I’ve got it down. Now I have the chance to grow the brand as big as I can.”
Don Cazentre writes for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.