For many years, “up the river” was the slang term for being sent to Sing Sing prison in Ossining for incarceration, up the Hudson River from New York City. But as of early November, the phrase has taken on a fresh meaning. Up the River is the name of Ossining’s first cannabis dispensary, a business begun by Ryan LoGiudici whose boutique store on Main Street, near the train station, offers a wide range of products – concentrates, edibles, topicals, gummies, cookies, drinks, vapes and more. They even deliver, with no charge.
Borrowing the river phrase was intentional. “I wanted to play off of the meaning,” LoGiudici said. “I like to think now it’s almost a way to take the phrase back – you can go ‘up the river’ and walk out with an eighth. The fact that cannabis wasn’t legal not too long ago, it’s almost a play on that and simply the fact that there are still lot of people in prison for non-violent drug offences that I personally consider to be a shame.”
LoGiudici is Croton-on-Hudson born, and proud to have started his store close to where he grew up. He graduated from Croton-Harman High School in 2010, then took a degree in management in the school of public and environmental affairs in Indiana. “I had a family member in California who had a cannabis farm in the north of the state. And after college I had the choice of pursuing an office job somewhere or go work a season with him on the farm.” He chose the farm, “And it was wonderful, one of the best times of my life. And I said: ‘Wow, I want to make a career out of this.’”
At the time cannabis was only legal in two states, Washington and Colorado, so LoGiudici moved to Denver, took a $15-dollar-an-hour packaging job for a cannabis manufacturer and over a decade worked his way up and across the industry, returning to California at one point, expanding his knowledge of cultivation, manufacture and distribution. “But the idea was always to come back to where I was born and raised at the right time, perhaps to have a store or manufacture products where I grew up.”
Finding a local property took a little time. “You have to be 500 feet from a school, and 200 feet from a church,” he explained. Croton being a small community, he couldn’t find the right space there. “But Ossining has been very welcoming.”
His business employs a team of six and has started to develop its clientele since the soft opening in early November. “I want people to come in and know my name and know my staff’s names and trust their opinion on the products we put on the shelf,” he commented, adding, “There’s nothing on the shelf that I or my staff have not tried.”
What about his ambition, looking forward? “I’d like to be Ossining’s and the surrounding area’s main place to shop for their cannabis. I want people to resonate with the fact that I am a local. I’m not some outsider. It’s been a dream of mine and a passion of mine for a decade. I want to make a store that’s engrained in this community and as Ossining grows, so hopefully do we.”
More dispensaries are due to open in the River Towns, but LoGuidici looks positively on competition. “There’s room for all of us, but I’m happy to be the first here. It’s a proud moment for me, for sure, and I hope people see how much that matters to me and choose to shop with a local at a local place.”
