🌿 Inside the Hamptons' Boutique Cannabis Retreat: The Hamptons Collective

🔥 After Devastating Fire, Hammer & Stain Readies Reimagined Sayville Studio

🐳 Whales Have Returned to Long Island Waters, and Albany Is Responding

🦅 Lynbrook Teen's Eagle Scout Project Gives a Thrift Shop New Life

Inside the new Hampton's dispensary, a longtime group of friends is pairing carefully curated cannabis with hospitality, education and a distinctly Hamptons sense of place.

The first surprise at The Hamptons Collective is how little it resembles the conventional image of a cannabis dispensary.

There is no harsh fluorescent lighting or row of glass cases separating customers from the products. Instead, the 1,400-square-foot Southampton space is bright and inviting, with pale wood paneling, clean white light and the relaxed atmosphere of a boutique wellness retreat. Customers are encouraged to browse, examine product displays and take their time.

Visitors often compare it to a spa. That reaction is not incidental; it is central to the concept.

Located at 257 County Road 39A in a former Mecox Gardens nursery space, The Hamptons Collective opened April 17, just ahead of the unofficial cannabis holiday of April 20. It was among the first licensed adult-use dispensaries to open in the Hamptons.

The business was founded by two couples and a close circle of friends and family whose relationships stretch back more than two decades. What began as an idea in 2022 ultimately became an intensive four-year effort to create a cannabis business that felt connected to its surroundings rather than imposed upon them.

For co-founder Rachel Halevy, a Long Island native who grew up in Cold Spring Harbor, that meant understanding both the character of the community and the scrutiny that would accompany opening a cannabis dispensary there. The founders watched carefully as municipalities across Long Island decided whether to permit adult-use cannabis businesses. They ultimately chose Southampton because they believed the setting called for something more considered than a conventional retail store.

They wanted to create a space that reflected Southampton’s character, style and sensibility, one that felt naturally aligned with the Hamptons aesthetic: luxurious yet approachable, refined yet relaxed, and above all, clean and calm. An elevated design and experience

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That philosophy is evident in the shopping experience. Product packages are placed on open displays, allowing customers to pick them up and examine them, while informational touchscreens offer another way to explore the menu. Staff members are available to guide those who want a conversation, but customers who prefer to browse independently can do that as well. “It’s as interactive or non-interactive as you want to be,” says Halevy.

Education is an important part of the model, particularly in a market where experienced cannabis consumers may still be unfamiliar with New York’s regulated system. Staff members are trained to help first-time customers understand different formats, potencies and expected experiences while also assisting longtime consumers as they navigate the transition from the legacy market to licensed retail.

For Halevy, the public-health argument is straightforward: If adults are going to consume cannabis, she would rather see them purchase products that have been tested, labeled and regulated than buy from an unknown source with no reliable information about what is inside.

The menu reflects a similar balance between accessibility and discovery. Recognizable brands share shelf space with smaller New York growers and limited-release producers, including craft names such as Trout & Co. and Banzzy 1305. The goal is not to reject larger brands, but to create a broad selection that gives independent cultivators and boutique producers meaningful visibility alongside widely distributed products.

Offerings range from flower, pre-rolls and edibles to concentrates, tinctures, topicals, beverages and vaporizers, with merchandise and accessories rounding out the store. The Collective also offers online ordering, a loyalty program and delivery across the South Fork, including service as far east as Montauk. Deliveries are also made to Shelter Island, an important convenience for residents and visitors who may not regularly return to the mainland.

Prices are intentionally varied. What matters more to the founders is that the level of service remains consistent.

The founders focus on a simple philosophy: A customer spending $20 should receive the same attention and respect as someone spending $500. Opening ahead of the height of the summer season gave the team time to understand its local customers, what they wanted, which products they returned for and what they were comfortable spending. The inventory has continued to evolve and adapt in response.

The Hamptons Collective is also positioning itself as more than a retail destination. Its backyard and indoor-outdoor property have become a setting for collaborations with neighboring businesses, including a Memorial Day weekend pop-up with Goldberg’s Bagels and Hey Caviar, as well as Pilates and matcha programming. Additional events are being developed around movement, recovery and wellness, extending the founders’ broader vision of the dispensary as a gathering place.

That community-building effort has been unusually personal and intentionally hands-on. The owners are frequently on site, giving customers the increasingly rare opportunity to ask for an owner and actually speak with one of them, whether to learn more about a product, offer feedback or simply understand the story behind the business. Beyond the dispensary itself, Halevy has made a point of introducing The Hamptons Collective to the wider South Fork community one conversation at a time. She has personally visited businesses throughout the region, walking through their doors, meeting owners and employees, and explaining what the Collective hopes to contribute to the neighborhood. In some cases, she has returned more than once because a different employee was working the following day and she wanted to make the introduction personally. It is a decidedly old-fashioned approach to building a modern cannabis business, grounded less in digital promotion than in familiarity, trust and the belief that becoming part of a community begins by showing up for it.

For a new cannabis business, the challenge of its first season has not necessarily been persuading people to reconsider the product. It has been letting them know the business exists. The Hamptons Collective is approaching that challenge in much the same way it approached the store itself: carefully, personally and one relationship at a time. In a region where belonging must often be earned, its founders are beginning by walking through their neighbors’ doors before asking those neighbors to walk through theirs.

Have a look for yourself at thehamptonscollective.com 

If you’re anywhere Out East this summer and looking to pick up a few goodies or place an order for delivery, The Hamptons Collective is a great option. Even if cannabis isn’t your thing, the property alone is worth a visit.

Nearly two years after a fire tore through several Main Street storefronts in downtown Sayville, Hammer & Stain is finally getting its comeback. The DIY craft studio and shop at 15 N. Main St. is tentatively set to reopen in early October with a completely reimagined space, new craft offerings and an expanded retail experience, owner Sandra Bernius told Greater Long Island. She's calling it nothing less than a rebirth.

When the November 2024 fire struck, Hammer & Stain had workshops and parties booked straight through the holidays. Bernius and her team pivoted within 24 hours, shifting to remote classes before setting up a temporary pop-up inside a Bayport flower shop and eventually rebuilding the rear portion of the Sayville building, where they kept teaching for about ten months. "It wasn't perfect. It wasn't fun," Bernius said. "But it kept us alive."

Now the rebuild is turning into a fresh start. The reopened studio will keep beloved favorites like wood projects and chunky blanket workshops while introducing glass mosaics and fused glass pieces, plus an expanded retail side with more custom orders and grab and go gifts. Many familiar staff faces are returning too, and Bernius says the team is already gearing up to host holiday parties again come November.

👉 Read more: Greater Long Island

Whales began disappearing from New York Harbor back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, but cleaner water and plentiful baitfish have drawn them back in a big way. Humpbacks, fin whales, minke whales and even critically endangered North Atlantic right whales are now regularly spotted off Long Island, close enough that boaters can often see them from the beach. Earlier this summer the nonprofit Gotham Whale even added its 500th individually identified humpback to its New York area catalog.

With more whales sharing the water with thousands of recreational boats, fishing vessels and commercial traffic, Governor Kathy Hochul traveled to Montauk this month to sign the New York Whale Awareness Act. The law directs the state Department of Environmental Conservation to build educational guidelines aimed at preventing vessel strikes, and it folds whale safe boating lessons directly into boater safety courses and vessel registration.

Carl LoBue, New York oceans and fisheries director for The Nature Conservancy, called it an extraordinary conservation success story that now comes with new responsibility. His advice for anyone out on the water: slow down, watch for feeding birds and schools of fish breaking the surface, and remember that everyone aboard, down to the youngest passenger, can help spot a whale before it becomes a problem. "Seeing a whale while you're out on the water is an incredible experience," he said, "and it's something we should celebrate."

👉 Read more: Greater Long Island

Garrett Reid, an 18-year-old Lynbrook High School graduate and member of Troop 336, earned scouting's highest rank this year after tackling a very practical problem: a rusted, deteriorating metal shed outside the Our Lady of Peace thrift shop that was ruining donated clothes left there when the shop was closed.

Reid got to know the parish through CYO basketball, and when Sister Barbara Faber mentioned the shed situation, he decided to fix it himself rather than let donations keep getting damaged. He expected he and his fellow scouts would have to build a replacement from scratch, but while researching the project he tracked down the original shed supplier, SteelSheds.us in Farmingdale, which was still in business and able to help.

Reid was honored alongside three fellow Troop 336 members at an Eagle Court of Honor in May, a milestone that caps years of service projects across the community. For a parish thrift shop that depends on donations to keep its shelves stocked, a simple, sturdy shed makes a real difference.

👉 Read more: LI Herald

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