OLEAN — The city’s first state-approved cannabis retailer will cut its ribbon Saturday.

Jupiter Café, 172 N. Union St., is open and is the first to sell licensed cannabis products within the city limits, said general manager Kieondre Woody. The store will host its grand opening from 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday after a weeklong soft launch.

According to the state Office of Cannabis Management, the store is the first to receive a license to operate in the city. The license was approved May 28, and Woody said the store held a soft opening once authorized. The OCM database indicates the business is licensed for in-person sales with no delivery option.

The parent organization is Living Proof Inc., a veteran-founded New York-based nonprofit which aims to develop entrepreneurs in the U.S. and abroad, said Jose Miguel Nunez Taveras, the administrative manager of Jupiter Cafe and former CEO of Living Proof Inc.

In the restored Palmquist Jewelry building, Nunez is proud of the work being done to set up and serve the Olean community.

“It’s like wine or liquor,” he said, with staff helping customers make informed purchasing choices.

Upon entering, shoppers will see the menu of the store’s various cannabis-related products, including combustibles, edibles and beverages containing cannabis and related compounds. All are laboratory tested as required under state law for safety, Woody said.

“We’re very regulated,” he said. “Everyone who comes into our store has to have a valid ID.”

Regular operating hours are from 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 9 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

On Saturday, the 12-hour grand opening includes a 10 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony, food, music, giveaways and popups from vendors Grӧn, Revert Cannabis, Florist Farms, Fernway, and Rove.

The focus of the operation is unique in the area, Woody said.

“We’re going to use this as a training center for others looking to get their own (Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary) licenses,” Woody said, noting a focus on community engagement and training as opposed to a strict focus on sales. “We don’t want to be ‘Weed R’ Us.”

Nunez said the goal is to almost run the business like a business school, helping interested entrepreneurs learn the legal and business sides of cannabis selling in New York, and then encouraging them to open their own businesses or take their skills into other business ventures. There is a focus on helping those of minority or disadvantaged backgrounds, he added.

Cannabis remains illegal under federal law, but only half a dozen states do not allow for any legal avenue to possess cannabis, whether for a medicinal or recreational purpose. New York enacted a law in 2021 to allow for commercial sales of recreational cannabis, with the first store opening in 2022. Since then, the state has issued more than 1,200 business licenses for sales, growing and distribution; and 411 stores have opened.

The first location in Cattaraugus County to receive a license, Enchanted Mountains Canna Company in Ellicottville, received a license in May 2024. An in-process application has been pending for another business in Olean since 2023. In addition, dozens of cannabis stores are located on the Allegany Territory of the Seneca Nation of Indians. Those stores are not regulated by the OCM, nor are they required to pay the state’s various taxes on cannabis products.

But Woody and Nunez said they don’t expect the store to be challenged by those other sites, noting the store’s central location in the city’s business district, services being offered and organizational setup set it apart.

“We just want to be that place people go, either first-timers or ‘cannaisseurs,’ as we call them,” Woody said.