- Small Business Saturday 2026 is Saturday, November 28 — the Saturday after Thanksgiving, created by American Express in 2010 to steer holiday shoppers toward local, independently run businesses.
- Cannabis Cowboy is a locally operated, New York State–licensed adult-use dispensary at 110-04 Jamaica Avenue in [Richmond Hill](/dispensary/richmond-hill), Queens (OCM-RETL-24-000068), open every day 10am–10pm.
- Shopping a licensed shop means every product moved through New York's regulated, lab-tested supply chain — the unregulated market skips all of that.
- Beat the post-Thanksgiving rush by ordering ahead on the live menu, or check whether prepaid delivery reaches your block in southern Queens.
Thanksgiving weekend has a rhythm: Thursday is the table, Friday belongs to the big-box crowds, and then Saturday quiets down into something more local. That's the point of Small Business Saturday — a day to spend your holiday shopping a few blocks from home instead of in a warehouse parking lot. If you're 21 or older and picking up cannabis for the long weekend, a licensed neighborhood dispensary fits the spirit of the day exactly.
What is Small Business Saturday, and when is it in 2026?
Small Business Saturday falls on Saturday, November 28, 2026 — always the Saturday after Thanksgiving, wedged between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. American Express created it in 2010, during the aftermath of the Great Recession, as a counterweight to the big-retail push: a nudge to spend the weekend's shopping energy on the independent, locally run shops that anchor a neighborhood. The idea caught on fast — by 2011 the U.S. Senate had passed a resolution recognizing it, and it's been a fixture of the shopping calendar ever since.
In Queens, that translates to the businesses actually lining the avenue — the ones owned and staffed by people from the area, not headquartered three states away. Cannabis Cowboy is one of them: a single licensed storefront on Jamaica Avenue, run day to day by the team behind the counter.
Why does shopping small matter at a licensed dispensary?
"Shop small" is easy to picture at a bakery or a bookstore. It's just as real at a dispensary. A locally operated, licensed shop keeps money and jobs in the neighborhood, and the people ringing you up are the same people who chose what's on the shelf. You can ask a question and get an answer from someone who actually knows the menu, rather than a scripted upsell.
There's also a civic layer specific to cannabis. New York built its adult-use market to favor local, independently owned retailers over out-of-state chains, and every licensed sale carries a 13% adult-use excise tax (9% state, 4% local) that funds state and community programs. Choosing a licensed neighborhood shop on Small Business Saturday is, quite literally, keeping that spending in the system it was designed for.
What makes a licensed shop different from the unregulated market?
Jamaica Avenue has no shortage of storefronts advertising cannabis, and they don't all mean the same thing. Only some are licensed by New York's Office of Cannabis Management (OCM). The difference isn't cosmetic — it's the entire supply chain behind the product:
- Licensed shops sell cannabis that moved through New York's regulated, tracked, lab-tested pipeline from grower to shelf, with the state's universal symbol and a batch label on every product.
- Unregulated shops sell products that skipped all of that — no independent testing, no state oversight, and no recourse if something's off.
- A licensed dispensary checks a 21+ photo ID at the door every visit, keeps product out of the storefront window, and can show its OCM license number (Cannabis Cowboy's is OCM-RETL-24-000068).
How do you plan a Small Business Saturday visit to Cannabis Cowboy?
The weekend after Thanksgiving is busy everywhere, so a little planning goes a long way. A few things worth knowing before you come:
- Bring a valid 21+ photo ID. A current, government-issued ID is required to enter and to buy — no exceptions, no expired cards.
- Order ahead to skip the line. Browse the live menu and place a pickup order in advance; it's the easiest way to get in and out on a crowded Saturday.
- Check delivery if you'd rather stay in. Prepaid delivery reaches a growing slice of southern Queens — enter your address at checkout to see whether your block is inside the current zone.
- Come when it suits you. The shop is open every day, 10am to 10pm, so you don't have to fight the exact post-lunch rush if mornings or evenings are calmer for you.
How do you get there?
Cannabis Cowboy is at 110-04 Jamaica Avenue, on the block between 110th and 111th Streets in Richmond Hill. Take the J or Z train to 111 St and it's about a 3-minute walk; the Q24 and Q56 buses run right along Jamaica Avenue. It's an easy trip from Ozone Park and the rest of southern Queens — see all the neighborhoods the shop serves on the Areas We Serve page.
However you spend Small Business Saturday, the through-line is the same: a day for the independent shops that make the neighborhood the neighborhood. If cannabis is on your list this year, choosing a licensed, locally run dispensary is the version of "shop small" that also means everything you buy was tested, tracked, and sold the way New York intended.