EDITOR’S NOTE: On Jan. 15, NJ Cannabis Insider hosts a newsmakers networking event in Red Bank, featuring a legislator and business leaders in the hemp and legal cannabis industries. Tickets are limited.

The nondescript building with blurred windows and simple blue letters reading “Rise” looks like an ordinary storefront next to a T-Mobile. But come this weekend, it will be a bustling medical marijuana dispensary, helping to serve the growing number of patients in North Jersey.

Rise Paterson, operated by Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries, is the first of the six medical marijuana businesses licensed in late 2018 to open. The state has only six other operators serving more than 60,000 patients.

Braving the chilly morning, those who came for a peek into the store Friday munched on muffins and bagels while holding cups of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee. By 10 a.m. Saturday, medical marijuana card holders will find the shelves stocked with cannabis.

Rise Paterson received its permit to grow marijuana and put its first plants in the ground last week, becoming Green Thumb’s 37th store. None of the other five pending dispensaries have come as far.

“We are thrilled to welcome everyone to Rise Paterson, [Green Thumb Industries’] first store in New Jersey,” said Devra Karlebach, the CEO. “We’re even more thrilled to open to Paterson and the surrounding communities tomorrow. We look forward to growing and producing high-quality branded products in the state. We are so honored to be part of your community."

Standing at the Rise storefront, which shares a small parking lot with Mamajuana Cafe and sits across the street from a McDonald’s, Mayor Andre Sayegh called Friday a “banner day” for Paterson before he cut a ribbon. He applauded the dispensary and said it will create jobs and bring revenue to the cash-strapped city.

“I’ve heard from countless constituents who have medical ailments who have travel to Secaucus or Montclair,” he said. “Now they can come home and get the care that they need and spend their money in Paterson.”

The dispensary’s retail store and cultivation site currently employ 12 people, and the company plans to hire closer to 20, said Karlebach. Sayegh said the city is working on passing a law to collect a 2% tax on sales at the dispensary, and hopes to have it pass in January.

“We don’t want to leave money on the table,” he said.

When Rise Paterson opens at 10 a.m. Saturday, its shelves will be filled with marijuana grown by Curaleaf, a dispensary in Bellmawr, until its own nearby growing operation is in full force. It typically takes at least three months to grow, harvest and dry marijuana, so Rise has entered into a wholesale purchase agreement with Curaleaf, a move the Health Department encourages to expand access to patients and avoid shortages.

Jeff Brown, the assistant commissioner of the Health Department who oversees the medical marijuana program, said the opening showed the state’s “ongoing commitment to expand the program” for patients by increasingly enrollment and options.

The program had just 17,000 patients when Gov. Phil Murphy took office. Now, it has more than 63,000, and the Health Department issued 250 cards in just one day this week, he said.

“We hear on a daily basis how far people have to travel to get their medicine,“ Brown said. "This is an area that has been underserved.”

The state has said it will license 24 other new medical marijuana businesses across the state. It accepted applications for the coveted licenses over the summer, but officials not yet said when they will announce the awardees.

Amanda Hoover can be reached at ahoover@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @amandahoovernj. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.com’s newsletters.