Why this new cannabis store is a scaled-down replica of Grand Central Station

Unlike Times Square, a tourist destination that many locals would rather drive carpet staples into their gums than go near, Grand Central Station, that marvel of beaux arts architecture with its dramatic arches, marble staircases, and 125-foot muralled ceilings, can warm the cockles of even the most jaded New Yorker’s heart.

Now NYC Bud, a cannabis retailer, is paying homage to the terminal, with a new store in Manhattan that’s a whimsical scaled-down version.

At the store, which is in Midtown on West 39th Street, the rounded ceiling is the same shade of green as in Grand Central, as are the murals of constellations rendered in gold paint. The familiar walls and intricate decorative details are made from Venetian plaster, the floors are topped with marble, and numbered signs over doorways are identical to the original’s signs for tracks.

A structure in the center, a replica of Grand Central’s circular information booth, functions as a display case. Still to come: a replica of the Tiffany clock perched atop the booth.

It’s the second transit-themed store for the retailer, whose original NYC Bud in Long Island City is modeled after a New York subway station, complete with a replica of a subway car.

Credit Giancarlo Pinto, who along with Jonpaul Pezzo is a co-owner of NYC Bud, with designing both stores. Asked on a recent tour for Retail Brew of the store if he had a design background, he answered with a single word, “No.”

But after a beat, Pinto added a one-word clarification: “Legos.”

Befitting a devotee of the plastic bricks, there’s a child’s sense of play here, albeit for a decidedly adult product, when it comes to both the design and the shopping experience.

After ordering cannabis products from tablets positioned near the displays, shoppers can see their names on monitors that resemble departure boards, with status “In Progress,” at first, then “Ready.”

Then they proceed to a replica of three ticket windows to pick up the purchase from budtenders. While it adds nothing to the Grand Central Station verisimilitude, there’s a retro touch here. The secured stockroom with all the cannabis products is in the basement, and once the orders are pulled, they’re put on a dumbwaiter and arrive in that room behind the ticket windows.

“We don’t call it a ‘dumbwaiter,’” Pinto said. “We have a smart waiter.”

The location and opening date for the next NYC Bud are TBD, but it will be a variation on the theme: very New York, and transportation-oriented.

“More than likely,” Pinto said, it will be “a New York City streetscape from the ’90s to early 2000s with cars and everything.” He said they’ve already acquired a 1989 Chevy Caprice that they hope to park in the store.

“It’s New York as a backdrop with cannabis in the foreground,” Pinto said.

If they all seem a bit less serious than your average retail store, remember: They call it recreational cannabis for a reason.

“The reality is that cannabis is fun and it shouldn’t be taken seriously,” Pinto said. “It shouldn’t be just so retail-oriented, where we’re just trying to make it transactional.”