About Hii NYC: Our Brooklyn Dispensaries

Peter Beznos

Founder & CEO

The Founder Story

Peter Beznos

Peter Beznos has lived in Brooklyn his entire life. He has watched this neighborhood change, evolve, and become what it is today. More importantly, he has watched cannabis go from something criminalized and forbidden to something legal, regulated, and mainstream. And he has been there for all of it.

For more than 20 years, Peter worked in cannabis advocacy. This was not a job he stumbled into. It was a calling driven by belief that prohibition was wrong, that cannabis had legitimate medical and recreational value, and that the people who benefited most from criminalization were never the people who were actually hurt by it.

The opportunity to open a dispensary was not just a business move for Peter. It was a chance to prove that a cannabis retail space could be built differently. No corporate chains. No mass-market mentality. No shortcuts on quality or customer service. Just a real person from the neighborhood, opening a real business, based on real expertise and real community connection.

Licensed & Community-Rooted

Why CAURD?

When the New York State Office of Cannabis Management opened the CAURD (Community Access to Regulated Dispensaries) licensing pathway, Peter applied. CAURD is not for corporations looking to scale quickly across multiple states. It is for people from communities who have roots, experience, and something to prove.

CAURD prioritizes applicants with deep connections to their communities and histories of cannabis knowledge or advocacy. The licensing process is rigorous. You have to show you understand the cannabis industry, you understand compliance, and you understand your neighborhood.

Peter Qualified Because

20+ years of cannabis knowledge and advocacy
Brooklyn roots his entire life
Member of organizations committed to cannabis access and justice
Willingness to be held to higher standards

License: OCM-CAURD-24-000102

What We Believe

The Hii NYC Standard

Everything at Hii NYC flows from one core idea: what should a cannabis dispensary actually be?

Run by Experts

Run by someone who actually knows cannabis, not someone trying to exploit a new market.

Trained Professionals

Staffed by budtenders who are trained professionals, not minimum-wage workers with a brief orientation.

Vetted Products

Products vetted for quality, not just what is cheap or high-margin.

Respect for All

Customers treated with respect, whether first-timers or daily users.

Neighborhood First

A neighborhood place, not a chain. Community-focused from day one.

Quality Over Everything

No shortcuts on sourcing, compliance, or customer service. Ever.

Expert Guidance

Our Budtenders

Your budtender is the single most important person in your cannabis experience. They should be able to answer your questions, explain your options, understand your preferences, and guide you toward the right product without pushing you toward what is most profitable for the store.

We train our budtenders to do exactly that. They study the products we carry. They understand cannabinoid profiles, terpene effects, consumption methods, and dosing. They know the differences between the strains we stock. They understand how Pax Era systems work and when they are the right choice versus flower.

More importantly, they are taught to listen first and recommend second. If you come in and tell us it is your first time, we will not push you toward expensive concentrates. If you have questions that feel dumb, they are not, and we will answer them fully.

What They Know

Cannabinoid profiles and terpene effects
Consumption methods and dosing guidance
Pax Era and cartridge-system differences
Edible explanations for newcomers
Wyld, Left Coast, Bodega Boys product lines
Current product releases and availability

Serving Brooklyn

Two Locations, One Vision

Williamsburg

152 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11249

Sun-Wed: 9AM-11PMThu-Sat: 9AM-12AML train (Bedford Ave stop)

Bay Ridge

9206 3rd Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11209

Sun-Wed: 9AM-11PMThu-Sat: 9AM-12AMR train (95th St station)

Each location has its own menu and availability and operates with the same standards. But each location also serves its neighborhood. We pay attention to what Williamsburg customers want and what Bay Ridge customers want. We listen to feedback. We adapt. Two really good locations in two Brooklyn neighborhoods beats five mediocre locations spread across the city.

Giving Back

Our Community Commitment

Running a cannabis business is not just about selling cannabis. It is about being a good neighbor. It is about understanding that we operate in communities, we employ people from those communities, and we have a responsibility to give back.

That means supporting organizations working on cannabis justice, drug policy reform, and harm reduction. It means being transparent with our community about what we are doing and why we are doing it. It means hiring local, paying fair wages, and treating employees the way we treat customers.

It means taking seriously the fact that we are operating under a license that was designed to prioritize community applicants. That license is a trust document. We have it because the state believed we would use it responsibly.

Quality First

Our Supply Chain Philosophy

Everything we sell is tested, compliant, and sourced from licensed producers in New York State. We do not cut corners on sourcing. We do not carry questionable brands. We do not stock products that have not been lab-tested.

This means our prices might be higher than some places, and we are okay with that. The customer who knows they are getting high-quality, fully compliant cannabis is worth more to us than the customer who just wants the cheapest option.

Brands We Carry

Pax Era Back Home Farm Wyld Left Coast Bodega Boys Kiva Camino MFNY To the Moon Leal Major Fela's Eaton Botanicals North Fork Cannabis Olio Milkweed Lost Farm Flav Heady Tree 6 Point Cannabis Leadfarmer

The Future

What's Next

Hii NYC is a growing business, but we are growing carefully. We are not trying to become a national chain. We are focused on licensed New York microbusinesses and farms, each matched to the state license registry. One grower, one trained budtender, one neighborhood at a time.

Peter Beznos did not spend 20+ years in cannabis advocacy to just make money. He spent it because he believed cannabis prohibition was fundamentally wrong and that a better legal cannabis world was possible. Hii NYC exists to help build that better world, one customer and one community at a time.

For adults 21+ with valid ID only. Do not operate vehicles after consumption.

Hii NYC Cannabis Dispensary holds a New York State Office of Cannabis Management licenses: Williamsburg: OCM-CAURD-24-000102; Bay Ridge: OCM-CAURD-26-000330.