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Sunshine Foss runs two businesses in her Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood: Happy Cork, a wine and spirits shop, and Happy Buds, a CBD wellness shop and licensed cannabis dispensary.
Foss is always “on.” She quotes a popular saying about entrepreneurship: “I quit my 9-to-5 to work 24/7.” She did this twice, first in 2019 and then in 2021, while raising two young children. She splits her time between both stores, overseeing daily operations, hiring and social media accounts.
She says “plant magic” products help regulate her nervous system. As one of the few Black women to own a brick-and-mortar CBD business in the city, Foss wants to help other Black and Latino communities also realize its benefits. And she’s been gearing up for one of the biggest days for marijuana culture: 4/20.
Unlike with the wine and spirits industry, which “found” her, she was intentional about moving into the field of CBD (the non-psychoactive component in cannabis), Foss said. At the beginning of 2021, when New York State legalized adult-use marijuana, Foss knew she had to get a hemp retail license. Doing so took her years.
With Happy Buds, she wanted to give her community “a beautiful space” where you can shop for “everything plant magic.” And she didn’t want to wait for her license to be able to offer some part of that, even if sales of THC – the psychoactive component in cannabis — would have to wait. She immediately started looking for a spot. Her husband told her there was a building for sale on Patchen Ave. and Malcolm X Blvd. She learned that the owner was from Barbados; she grew up in St. Lucia before returning to Bed-Stuy, where she was born.
He invited her to check out the building the next day. Foss and her husband almost immediately made an offer and signed a contract. It seemed fortuitous that they closed on that property on Malcolm X Boulevard on Malcolm X’s birthday.
Renovations finished in late 2021, and Happy Buds opened that December with its CBD and wellness offerings, with plans to add a cannabis dispensary later.
Happy Buds finally got approved for its THC dispensary license last year, putting the last pieces of her dream in place.
And now that the dream is reality, she’s found that the reality can be tough. “New York is hard on retail and especially small businesses,” she said.
High taxes and rules around payroll and sanitation make operating difficult, she said. She pays for private trash collection but will still get fined, she said, if someone leaves ripped up paper in front of the business.
“I wish somebody would have told me to step back and really take ownership of your life first as opposed to the business,” Foss said. “Not having the business become your life.”
It helps to have a supportive team, some of whom work front-of-house, where Happy Buds sells CBD products and accessories such as bongs and pipes. The cannabis dispensary is in the back. Happy Buds carries everything from cannabis-infused dog treats and drinks to topical and beauty products.
Happy Buds has grown an unexpected fan base and a major source of joy for Foss: older people, many of whom say they had never used cannabis in their lives. They come in and say, “This bong that you gave me for my knee pain is the best thing that was ever created!” Foss said, adding, “Or ‘My dog is finally able to rest and not be active.’”
Ambar Castillo is a Queens-based community reporter. She covers the places, people and phenomena of NYC for Epicenter, focusing on health — and its links to labor, culture, and identity. Previously,… More by Ambar Castillo
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