Opening day, grand opening, they’ve got food set up for the celebration. A woman walks in.
“Do you guys have food here?”
Navkiran Pandher says, “Yeah, we have food, come on in.”
No. She’s looking for deli food. She remembers when this was King’s Deli. She wants a sandwich.
“It was just funny,” Navkiran laughs. “That wasn’t the type of food she was looking for.”
The red barn on County Road 12 has been feeding this community for generations. Locals say it was an onion packaging facility way back when. This is Black Dirt country, after all. Then it became King’s Deli, run by Navkiran’s father, Tony. Now it’s County Road Cannabis.
“A lot of people have their licenses but they’re struggling to find space,” Navkiran says. “We already had this location. So why not use this space?”
Her family owns gas stations and convenience stores around Middletown. The Pandhers don’t do one thing at a time.
Neither does Navkiran. She’s still working as a paralegal in Beacon, commuting from Orange County to Dutchess County and back while running dispensary operations. Oldest child of immigrants. All that pressure to make the family proud. Marist for political science, class of ’23. Worked for State Senator James Skoufis, who spoke at their ribbon-cutting.
“I’ve always been a person that stretches myself thin,” she admits, “but never too much to the point where I go crazy.”
She came up through social justice, not cannabis culture. When she looked at what New York’s Office of Cannabis Management was building—the emphasis on equity, the CAURD program—she recognized something.
“I’m not scared to say things. Diversity, equity and inclusion is just who I am.” — Navkiran Pandher
“I don’t think anyone should really be put in jail for a small little thing like weed.”
She pauses. Then doubles down.
“I’m not scared to say things. Diversity, equity and inclusion is just who I am.”
County Road’s website advocates for expungement of prior convictions and federal rescheduling. Strong stance for a retail business. Her co-owner Wei Hu is a cannabis attorney who’s worked with justice-involved people breaking into the industry.
“He’s able to see how life-changing it can be to not have this dark cloud over you,” she explains. “You make something of yourself and try your best that you can.”
Here’s the thing about Navkiran Pandher: she doesn’t consume cannabis. Neither does her father. Neither does anyone in her family.
“We’re here to be in the background. I let our budtenders be in the forefront. I trust them.” — Navkiran Pandher
“We’re here to be in the background. I let our budtenders be in the forefront. I trust them.”
You don’t have to eat every sandwich to know which ones your customers love. You listen. You watch what moves. You adjust.
Middletown opted out of allowing dispensaries, so County Road set up shop just outside city limits. Customers come from Pennsylvania, Warwick, and Otisville.
“Sometimes you just really need your weed,” Navkiran laughs. “We get people calling like, ‘I’m coming, please wait.’ We understand.”
There’s a story the staff tells about a couple who became regulars. Lovely people, fighting cancer. They won a raffle once.
“They were like, ‘It’s like Christmas.’ We just loved them so much.”
The wife passed not long ago. Her husband still comes in.
“Her story is with our staff every single day. That’s a connection our staff probably won’t forget.” — Navkiran Pandher
“Her story is with our staff every single day. That’s a connection our staff probably won’t forget.”
Customers who used to ask for anything over 30% THC now ask about terpenes as well as the entourage effect.
“It’s like wine,” Navkiran observes. “There are people who take the $7 bottle. And there are people saying I want this flavor, this taste. Not because it’s expensive, but because they know what they want.”
The Pandher family is looking at expansion. A gas station on Route 211 in Wallkill could become dispensary number two if the town opts in.
The building has been feeding this community for generations. The menu just changed.
County Road Cannabis Co. is located at 1326 Route 12, New Hampton, NY 10958. Open Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Phone: (845) 991-4545. Medical cardholders and Veterans receive 10% off. Website
