UES moms are stocking up at Charlie Fox —the ‘Bergdorf of weed’
They’re living the high life.
Uptown moms are braving Times Square to hit the new luxury cannabis store Charlie Fox for THC-infused tangerine flavored gummies and $50 pre-rolled joints for the occasional “mom’s night out.”
“It feels like The Nines meets Bergdorf Goodman,” gushed Alice Garretti, a 39-year-old Upper East Side mom-of-two, likening the shop to the trendy NoHo restaurant and the luxury department store.
On Tuesday morning, Garretti, who runs an upscale catering company, dropped her kids, ages 7 and 9, off at school uptown, then made a beeline for Charlie Fox in a private car.
There, a helpful “cannabis sommelier” presented her with a Hermes orange box of mango THC and CBD gummies on a silver platter.
“They literally sit down with you and bring everything out on a silver tray with sparkling water and talk you through everything they have … I used to gift candles at dinner parties, now I bring boxes of edibles,” said Garretti, whose hostess gift of choice is a $45 jewel box-like package of passion fruit-flavored Charlie Fox Gummies made from a strain of Indica, a cannabis species known to give users a relaxing full-body high.
“They’re fun to eat – I have a box by my bed,” she said, adding that she’s even stocked up on boxes for fundraisers.
Garretti, who calls herself a “quiet cannabis consumer,” didn’t know where to start when she first stumbled into Charlie Fox last month on the recommendation of a fellow Upper East Side parent who told her the store stocked goodies that are “not your younger brother’s weed brownies.”
While uptown has no shortage of cannabis shops, Garcetti said they are “shady,” reek of weed and cater to a younger, male demographic.
Charlie Fox aims to be far more welcoming. The second floor of the store is a chic, rose-hued lounge with a marble bar, baby pink banquettes and chandeliers. Cannabis sommeliers offer tastings tailored to each customer’s needs.
“I told her [the sommelier] about my high stress job and that I have two kids, I’m always running around – I don’t want something that is going to knock me out – I just want something that’s going to substitute that glass of wine I have before going to bed, just to take the edge off,” said Garretti, who has since put gummies out at some of her catering jobs — much to customers’ delight.
One of Charlie Fox’s sommeliers, Ari Botsford-Cohen, 35, has made a point of connecting with uptown mommies.
“I have been DM’ing with someone off a Mom’s of the Upper East Side Facebook group,” said Botsford-Cohen, who is a mother-of-one herself.
She said that many moms are seeking relatively low-dose edibles (typically under 5 milligrams of THC) not to get high but rather to help them sleep or help with hormonal changes.
“Perimenopause is no joke,” she said, noting she pops a few herself on occasion. The morning after a gummy, she said, is far better than one after drinking.
“If I wake up just a tiny bit stoned, I guess we’re just going to have a dance party before school – it makes me a more patient mom,” she said.
Janell Vantrease, a 45-year-old who works in marketing and is a mom-of-two, has frequented Charlie Fox since it opened in December, first stopping in serendipitously after seeing “Wicked” on Broadway nearby with a girlfriend.
“We stumbled on it after — we said we wished we found it before the show,” Vantrese told The Post.
She bought a $45 box of the tangerine-flavored Social Gummies — wrapped in a bright orange bow and containing just 4 milligrams of THC each — and a pack of five pre-rolled for joints for $50.
“I felt great after trying them for the first time,” Vantrese, who lives in Midtown East, said of the gummies.
“I like that they don’t put me to sleep,” she added. “I take them before a moms night out.”
Garretti, meanwhile, is spreading the word about Charlie Fox in her mom circle — with some caution.
“It’s still a little bit of a taboo,” she said. “But I’m sure I’ll walk [in] here and find a mom from the pick up line at school and it’ll be a fun moment.”
