Granite countertops? Pendant lights? Chandeliers? If Phillipsburg’s medical marijuana dispensary is like others in the chain, it’s going to be a classy storefront when it opens by year’s end.

The Apothecarium has locations in San Francisco and Las Vegas. In 2017, Architectural Digest ranked one storefront among the seven best-designed marijuana shops in the country.

So how will Phillipsburg – a blue-collar town of 14,500 people on New Jersey’s western border – end up with the first East Coast location of this swanky pot shop?

One of the three Apothecarium locations in San Francisco.Photo courtesy The Apothecarium

Last December, the state approved plans for a subsidiary of Toronto-based TerrAscend Corp. to open a dispensary in town, the first in Warren County, where patients must drive an hour or more to fill their medical marijuana prescriptions.

Then, this year, TerrAscend acquired The Apothecarium. In a May earnings report, the parent company said the Phillipsburg dispensary would take that name when it opens sometime in the fourth quarter of 2019.

The first Apothecarium east of the Rocky Mountains will be in the former Phillipsburg Trust Co. building at 55 S. Main St.

Its design will be hammered out in meetings with architects over the next few weeks, which will hopefully also yield a firmer target opening date, said Trish Zita, director of the subsidiary TerrAscend NJ, which was formerly NETA NJ.

Early plans called for both the dispensary and growing operation to set up within Phillipsburg’s borders. The cultivation site was deemed too close to a school and will instead be located 40 miles away in Boonton Township, Morris County.

One of the three Apothecarium locations in San Francisco.Photo courtesy The Apothecarium

Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveNovakLVL and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.