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It’s no secret cannabis retailers have upped their game. It’s not just what they sell but how — usually a combination of design, staff excellence, and overall vibe that make the best weed stores standout among the pack. Customers are taking notice and looking for more than just a place to buy their legal cannabis products: They want an experience.
With more states coming online legalizing recreational cannabis, we expect there will be more and more exciting retail options opening around the country. Until then, here’s a look back at five top stores Green Entrepreneur highlighted in 2021, from a luxury dispensary in Toronto to an all female- and black-owned outfit in Los Angeles.
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With the launch of their second store in Toronto, Edition is establishing itself as the go-to name for luxury cannabis in Canada. If your post-pandemic travel plans aren’t taking you north of the border, their e-commerce site features all their curated cannabis offerings and elegant accessories. But it’s at their retail locations — the newest being Edition St Clair — that customers can best appreciate Edition’s elegant design, impeccable service and specially mixed playlists.
The Ottawa dispensary is a technicolor, Willie Wonka-like stroll into a cannabis utopia. Part boardwalk carnival, part retro diner, and part cannabis store, Suprette is a joint venture between co-founders Mimi Lam and Drummond Munro. “This new store really shows the evolution of Superette as a brand and how we can continue to push the boundaries on our retail experience. From vintage diner to house of mirrors this customer journey will be unlike any other,” says co-founder Drummond Munro.
Known for selling premium flower to stores across California, Wonderbrett opened its own storefront in Hollywood this year. The company was among the thousands to apply to receive a coveted SocialEquity Retail License from the L.A. Department of Cannabis Regulation. WIth hand-hewn oak beams and textured pattern herringbone wood floors., A-frame skylights, hand-pounded Indian metal light fixtures with Edison bulbs, and even an “Instagram Wall” meant for shareable photos, it’s a concept befitting L.A.
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For a band that lost its almost-mythical leader in 1995, the Grateful Dead will simply not fade away. And when devoted Deadhead David Ellison, founder of craft cannabis start-up Scarlet Fire, wanted to put his passion for the band on display at his new retail store in Toronto, he called on SevenPoint Interiors to make it happen. Having designed several eye-catching cannabis spaces since 2017, ran with Ellison’s vision, developing a brand identity for Scarlet Fire and even creating a gallery for Ellison’s personal collection of Dead memorabilia gathered over thirty years of fandom. The results are positively trippy.
When you can’t find what you want, build it yourself. That’s what Whitney Beatty and Ebony Andersen have done with Josephine & Billie’s, their new “speakeasy-style” dispensary in Los Angeles. The concept was created specifically for Women of Color — and allies — by Women of Color, the first of its kind in the country.
Inspired by “tea pads” that existed in Black communities in the 1920s and 1930s, the South L.A. spot is as much about community and education as it is selling cannabis products. It’s also the first official investment from Jay-Z’s The Parent Company, which launched a social equity corporate venture fund to help discover and develop the industry’s future entrepreneurs of color.
