Silly Nice Launches Sell-Through-First Retail Growth Partnership for New York Dispensaries

New York cannabis brand formalizes a retailer-first wholesale model built around lean opening orders, weekly replenishment, marketing support, staff education and direct founder access.

Brooklyn, New York, Sept. 28, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As New York’s legal cannabis market becomes larger, more competitive and increasingly focused on what actually sells at retail, Silly Nice is formalizing a different approach to wholesale growth: help dispensaries move product before asking them to buy more of it.

The independent New York cannabis brand today announced its Sell-Through-First Retail Growth Partnership, a retailer-support model built around a simple principle: Silly Nice does not want dispensaries overloaded with inventory simply to create a larger initial order.

Instead, the company encourages licensed New York dispensaries to start with a manageable product mix, evaluate what their customers respond to, replenish successful products through weekly statewide delivery, and build the account around demonstrated consumer demand.

The program combines wholesale economics with ongoing retail support, including local marketing, product education, founder activations, digital visibility, creative assets and direct access to Silly Nice co-founders Shane Breen and LeVar Thomas.

Licensed New York dispensaries interested in carrying Silly Nice can review products, wholesale pricing, retail economics and onboarding information at sillynice.com/wholesale.

A Different Response to a More Competitive New York Cannabis Market

New York cannabis retail has changed dramatically.

The New York State Office of Cannabis Management reported that the state had 623 licensed adult-use dispensaries operating by March 31, 2026, up from a far smaller retail network during the market's earliest stages. OCM has also reported billions of dollars in cumulative legal adult-use cannabis sales as the regulated marketplace continues to mature.

More stores create greater consumer access. They also create significantly more competition—for dispensaries trying to differentiate themselves and for cannabis brands competing for limited shelf space.

That changes what successful wholesale relationships need to look like.

Recent analysis from cannabis wholesale platform Nabis described a similar shift, arguing that as New York's market expands, brand success increasingly depends on sell-through, reorders and sustainable account management rather than sell-in alone.

Silly Nice believes the same principle should extend to how brands treat dispensary partners.

“We never wanted our definition of success to be how much product we could get a dispensary to take on the first order,” said Silly Nice co-founder Shane Breen. “If the product isn't moving, a bigger opening order doesn't solve anything. We would rather help a store start intelligently, support them, see what their customers actually want and build the relationship from there.”

Don't Fill the Shelf and Disappear

Cannabis brands and retailers ultimately need the same thing: products consumers choose repeatedly.

The Sell-Through-First Retail Growth Partnership is designed around that alignment.

Instead of treating a wholesale purchase as the end of the relationship, Silly Nice treats placement as the beginning.

Participating retailers have access to support that can include:

• Weekly statewide replenishment so stores can restock products that are moving without depending on unnecessarily large opening orders.
• Retail marketing support designed to help consumers discover dispensaries carrying Silly Nice.
• Product education and staff resources to help budtenders understand what differentiates each product.
• Founder appearances and dispensary activations when schedules and geography allow.
• Digital and social promotion around participating retail locations, product availability and events.
• Professional product photography, descriptions and brand assets for menus, websites and social media.
• Direct founder access for questions, ideas, staff training and account support.

The philosophy is straightforward:

The goal is not simply to get Silly Nice onto more shelves. The goal is to help Silly Nice sell from those shelves.

Six Products Designed to Serve Different Cannabis Customers

Silly Nice currently offers a focused six-product lineup rather than building an oversized catalog filled with products competing against one another.

The portfolio includes Diamond Powder, Bubble Hash, Frosted Hash Ball, Diamond-Frosted Infused Flower, a 510-thread vape and a 2G all-in-one vape.

Together, the products span multiple segments of the adult-use market, including concentrates, solventless hash, infused flower and vapor products.

That focused structure is intentional.

For dispensary buyers, a smaller differentiated portfolio can make assortment decisions, staff education and merchandising easier. For consumers, recognizable products can help create clearer reasons to return.

Silly Nice's current wholesale structure also positions products at approximately 2× wholesale-to-suggested-retail pricing, depending on the SKU and a retailer's ultimate pricing decisions.

The company currently works with approximately 165 licensed New York dispensaries.

Weekly Replenishment Instead of Oversized Opening Orders

One of the most important pieces of the program is replenishment.

A retailer does not necessarily need several months of inventory sitting in a stockroom to establish a meaningful relationship with a cannabis brand.

Silly Nice encourages dispensaries to begin with enough inventory to properly merchandise and introduce the products, watch actual customer response and then use weekly statewide deliveries to replenish what moves.

“Retailers have rent, payroll, taxes, compliance costs and hundreds of purchasing decisions to make,” Breen said. “Their cash should not be trapped unnecessarily in products sitting in storage. We want stores ordering Silly Nice because their customers are buying Silly Nice.”

That approach also gives both sides better information.

Instead of measuring success by the size of an invoice, Silly Nice can focus on repeat orders, product velocity, consumer feedback and which products resonate in different markets around New York.

Retailers Need More From Brands Than Another Sales Pitch

The Sell-Through-First Retail Growth Partnership also addresses another challenge facing dispensary operators: simply stocking good cannabis does not automatically make consumers aware that it is available.

Silly Nice has built its retailer-support strategy around helping close that gap.

The company works to create consumer-facing awareness around retail partners through location-focused content, social promotion, events, product education and other marketing opportunities.

For Silly Nice, that support is not treated as an unrelated advertising service. It is part of the wholesale relationship.

“When someone asks us where they can find Silly Nice, we want to be able to send them to a great licensed dispensary and know the product is actually there,” said co-founder LeVar Thomas. “Our retail partners are the people introducing customers to our products every day. We should be helping those businesses succeed too.”

That creates a different relationship between brand and retailer.

The store provides the regulated environment where consumers can discover and purchase Silly Nice.

Silly Nice works to create reasons for consumers to walk through the store's doors.

Direct Access to the Founders

Silly Nice is also deliberately keeping one aspect of the company unusually personal as it grows.

Retail partners can communicate directly with Breen and Thomas.

There is no requirement that every account question disappear into a national customer-service department or anonymous ticketing system. Dispensary owners, budtenders, general managers and buyers can contact the founders directly when they want to discuss product education, events, marketing support or the relationship itself.

That accessibility is part of what Silly Nice believes an independent New York cannabis company can offer retailers that is difficult to replicate at scale inside a conventional corporate brand structure.

The company describes the relationship less like adding another vendor and more like creating a retail partnership in which both businesses have an incentive to generate repeat consumer demand.

Silly Nice Is Looking for More New York Dispensary Partners

The launch of the Sell-Through-First Retail Growth Partnership also serves as an open invitation to licensed cannabis dispensaries across New York State.

Silly Nice is actively interested in building new retail relationships throughout New York City, Long Island, the Hudson Valley, Capital Region, Central New York, Western New York, the Southern Tier, North Country and other licensed adult-use markets across the state.

The company is particularly interested in working with dispensaries that want:

• differentiated New York-made cannabis products,
• strong retail margins,
• frequent replenishment,
• direct brand support,
• product education,
• consumer-facing marketing assistance,
• founder involvement,
• and a relationship structured around long-term sell-through rather than a one-time order.

For retailers that are new to Silly Nice, the company has also created a starter assortment covering its six current products, allowing stores to introduce the complete lineup and use actual sales performance to guide future replenishment.

The Next Phase of Cannabis Wholesale Is About What Happens After Delivery

New York's cannabis market no longer has a shortage of brands asking retailers for shelf space.

That makes the question facing dispensary buyers increasingly straightforward:

What happens after the product arrives?

Silly Nice wants its answer to be equally clear.

The brand intends to help stores explain the products, market their availability, replenish what sells, introduce consumers to participating retailers and remain directly involved in the relationship.

No massive opening order required to prove commitment.

No belief that a delivery represents the finish line.

No disappearing once the invoice is written.

The company's wager is that long-term cannabis brands will ultimately be built not by placing the most inventory into stores, but by creating products consumers request, supporting the retailers that sell them and earning the next reorder.

For licensed New York cannabis dispensaries interested in becoming a Silly Nice retail partner, reviewing the complete product lineup, seeing current wholesale pricing or beginning onboarding, visit: sillynice.com/wholesale

About Silly Nice

Silly Nice is an independent, family-run New York cannabis brand founded by Shane Breen and LeVar Thomas. The company produces a focused lineup of small-batch cannabis products including Diamond Powder, Bubble Hash, Frosted Hash Ball, Diamond-Frosted Infused Flower and vape products. Silly Nice is currently carried by approximately 165 licensed dispensaries across New York State.

The brand is Veteran-owned, Black-owned and LGBTQ-owned and emphasizes New York production, direct retailer relationships, product education, responsible growth and more sustainable packaging choices including recycled glass, hemp-based materials and ocean-bound plastic.

Attachment

• LeVar Thomas of Silly Nice at Stoops NYC Founders Meet & Greet

Shane Breen
Silly Nice
929-375-6940
info@sillynice.com