Long-empty Mount Laurel, NJ diner could become marijuana dispensary

We don't like it, but we're used to it. We don't like that our favorite places in New Jersey close down. Then are often replaced by condos. But we're used to it.

We didn't like it when Bowcraft on 22 in Scotch Plains folded and condos replaced it. But we're used to it.

So when Sage Diner in Mount Laurel closed after Gus and Stella Roustas filed for bankruptcy in 2017, I'm sure a lot of regulars were sad. The building has sat empty ever since. It was purchased in April 2019 by Giannakaris Enterprises and if the plan ever was to renovate and reopen as a new diner you can bet a pandemic hitting less than a year later would have put that on a back burner.

So all these years later having sat vacant and unused the building that was Sage Diner off 73 might be coming back to life. But not as a diner. Not as a condo, either.

Try a marijuana dispensary.

A Cherry Hill company, NJ Green Care LLC, is making a pitch in an application in front of Mount Laurel's Planning Board to turn the old diner into a marijuana dispensary. The 5,700-square-foot building's exterior would remain virtually unchanged as would its parking lot.

A big issue for the planning board will be security. The company has to show “the type and manner of 24-hour security, tracking and record-keeping of products and materials, surveillance systems ... and whether any armed security will be on the premises."

If it seems weird to have marijuana sold out of a former diner it wouldn't be the first time. According to Courier Post the site of the former Marlton Diner in Evesham has been approved for a marijuana dispensary.

Too bad these diners couldn't also serve up omelets and French toast along with legal cannabis. They could call it Weed And Feed.

Now you may not like the idea of a legal marijuana shop taking over the old Sage diner. But you'll get used to it.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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