EVL Farm Shop Opens New Cannabis Dispensary in Downtown Ellicottville
EVL Farm Shop Opens New Cannabis Dispensary in Downtown Ellicottville
Family-owned EVL Farm Shop brings a farm-to-flame cannabis experience to downtown Ellicottville, featuring craft-grown New York products, education, and a welcoming ski lodge-inspired atmosphere.
With great anticipation, the newly opened EVL Farm Shop, Ellicottville’s newest dispensary, opened its doors last Thursday in the former Bike & Bean space at 11 Martha Street. With a logo reminiscent of vintage K2 designs, EVL Farm Shop is a “farm to flame” dispensary, featuring micro growers from throughout New York State, a wide variety of cannabis products, and soon, will roll out a selection of personal and pet wellness goods, locally made artisanal gifts, hemp products, and Ellicottville-branded paraphernalia, among other novelties. To get the scoop on what to expect, EllicottvilleNOW caught up with owner Stew Ritchie in a recent phone interview.
“It is a family farm,” Ritchie explained. “My son is the cultivation manager; my wife does all the compliance; my daughter does website work for us - so it is really a family operation,” he explained, adding that they do have one full-time employee as well. “It is an extension of Native Offerings Farm [in East Otto]. We moved here in 2002 from East Aurora; we have been doing organic vegetables for 30 years now.”
Well known throughout the Buffalo area, Native Offerings is a CSA [community supported agriculture] farm providing organic products to families across the region. As for the current location, Ritchie said that the family spent five years looking for the perfect farm site as the soils are some of the best in the state for vegetable growing and for cannabis production.
The transition from organic farming to cannabis was relatively seamless, according to Ritchie. “When they started the hemp program in New York State, we were involved in the growing of the hemp, and then the people that were growing hemp for flower - as opposed to hemp for fiber - had the opportunity to get licenses for cannabis - THC,” he said, explaining that “it is all cannabis, whether it is going to be for fiber or for flower - THC flower - it is just the direction it is bred in.”
As for what the farm will cultivate, Ritchie explained that they currently produce many different strains. “We are a micro license, so as smaller craft growers, we are limited to 10,000 square feet of cultivation canopy, and by canopy, they mean flowering canopy, so at the moment, we have 10,000 feet of ‘autoflowers,’ which are fast flowering varieties, and then we have 10,000 square feet of ‘photoperiod,’ which take longer to flower,” he explained.
As a micro license [Adult-Use Cannabis Microbusiness license], Ritchie explained that they can grow, process, and sell their product directly to consumers in their dispensary, which is unique as it differentiates the business from the other dispensary in town.
Much of the inspiration for the new shop stemmed from a trip to Amsterdam, he shared. “In 2025, when we decided to do this license, we had a bunch of air miles, so we flew to Amsterdam because we wanted to see the dispensary scene there [since] it was very new in New York State; we wanted to see what the traditional dispensary was like.” Ritchie explained that the “coffee shops” in Amsterdam are nothing like dispensaries stateside.
“What we discovered in Amsterdam is that they are very, very different than the dispensaries we have in New York State, [which] are set in more like a pharmacy model, or like an art gallery type model, where they have all the empty jars, tubes, and packaging displayed in the store that you can walk around and look at it,” he said. “That is what most of them are like, and we really did not want to set it up like that,” Ritchie continued. “I have been skiing in Ellicottville since I was about three, so I have been in this town pretty much my whole life and wanted this dispensary to be reflective of Ellicottville - more like ski lodge than the pharmacy look.”
Ritchie added that there is an emphasis on natural wood use, making it a more comfortable space and less sterile. Not only is the new space inviting, Ritchie also hopes to cultivate an educational setting as well with a team of trained “budistas,” who, like sommeliers, can steer customers to products based on preferences.
“Cannabis is self-directed,” Ritchie explained. “We grow it organically; in the shop, we are going to educate people about the endocannabinoid system, about terpenes - we are not selling escapism - we are directing people in their health and wellness,” he continued. Of the two brands the shop currently carries, every variety has its own Certificate of Analysis (COA), which Ritchie explained can be found by scanning a QR code that will give a complete analysis of which terpenes are dominant in that particular strain. “You can self-direct your experience from there,” he said, likening cannabis to wine.
“There are a lot of different strains and they have different effects on your body. Some are social, and some are for introspection. Having cannabis can be like having a full wine cellar and you pull out the wine based on the occasion that you are having - that is the beautiful thing about it,” he said. “There are so many different cultivars out there, so many different ways of consuming it, you have a lot of choice and those can drive different experiences that you want to have.”
EVL Farm Shop is open to consumers 21 and older and is located at 11 Martha Street in downtown Ellicottville. Current hours of operation are Thursday through Saturday from 11:00am-9:00pm. Local delivery will be available during ski season, which Ritchie says will launch after Christmas. For inquiries or to make product suggestions, reach out to stew@evlfarm.com. For additional information, check out the dispensary’s website at www.evlfarm.com or follow @EVL.Farm on Instagram.