New High On Beekman Avenue

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The new cannabis shop unabashedly faces the Sleepy Hollow Police Department

September 25, 2025

By Barrett Seaman–

Anybody with concerns about the legality of Quality High, the new cannabis dispensary in Sleepy Hollow, need look no further than the New York State license plastered on the front window—and the shop’s location, right across Beekman Avenue from Village Hall, where village police are headquartered. “Being right across the street from the police station does a pretty good job of legitimizing us,” acknowledges Matt Nicoletti, co-owner of the store.

That legitimacy will be further validated on Saturday morning when the official grand opening will feature Sleepy Hollow Mayor Martin Rutyna cutting the traditional red ribbon. When Nicoletti and his partner, Nate Lyons, asked the mayor if he felt comfortable in that role, Rutyna told them, “You’re a business in town like anybody else, and we’ll treat you like anybody else.”

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Nicoletti and Lyons are out to show customers that they are not like most other cannabis dispensaries that are cropping up around Westchester. Quality High’s business is vertically structured so that they control all four stages of the operating cycle—from cultivating product on their own farm in Peekskill to displaying the various cannabis products (flowers, pre-rolled “joints” and edibles) in well-lit, if relatively sparse, display cases. Borrowing a term made fashionable by the restaurant industry, they describe their business as “farm-to-table.”

Nicoletti and Lyons have taken the edibles market to a new standard by hiring a former executive chef, Michael Sertucci of Hopewell Junction, to create a variety of flavored truffles, cubes and gummies steeped in fruits, berries, coffee and chocolate flavors. The full content of every product is on its label, including the percentages of the various ingredients, from THC to CBD and other cannabinoids, so customers can gauge their impact before consuming.

A display case of edibles: truffles, cubes, gummies

The two men, friends for more than a decade, have backgrounds in the construction industry (though not for the same company), who met through Nate’s wife, who grew up across the street from Matt’s house. When Matt’s father died, he began to re-examine his life goals—around the time that Nate started to grow his own, by this time legal weed. With the legalization of cannabis in New York opening up a whole new business opportunity, they got serious and hired a consultant. “The original plan was that he would be the grower and I’d handle the retail end of the business.”

It took three and a half years to get a state license, approval to locate in Sleepy Hollow and a storefront in the heart of the village. The journey, says Matt, was “insanely difficult,” almost entirely because of the state. “We were trying to create a business where the rules hadn’t been written yet,” he recalls. They had already signed a lease and were starting work on a store at 38 Beekman, when they state rescinded its approval because they were within 500 feet of the Morse School. They found their current home at 25 Beekman and are already up and operating.

Almost as difficult as dealing with the state was establishing a relationship with the banks. “The large banks won’t work with us,” says Matt flatly. “When Chase found out that I had a cannabis license, they terminated all my personal accounts,” he claims, “without explanation.” Fortunately, New Jersey-based Valley Bank stepped into the void. The Valley relationship, says Matt, “has been wonderful.”

Co-founders Matt Nicoletti and Nate Lyons

Meanwhile, helped by their experience in construction, they transformed what had once been a corner bodega and before that at some point a soda shop. They restored the original yellow pressed-metal walls and copper ceiling and installed display tables that gave the place the feel of a jewelry store.

Even before Opening Day, customers have been dropping by and discussing the pros and cons of vari9us cannabis products—and as often as not walking out with some in one of Quality High’s discreet black bags. Last Sunday’s Sleepy Hollow Street Fair drew thousands to Beekman Avenue. Nate smiled in recalling the traffic it brought to the store. “It was five times normal.”

Now that’s a Quality High.

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