Last year Tokyo Smoke founder, Alan Gertner spoke to a private Family Office event on the future of Marijuana. This article from the LA Times, is proof of Alan's vision for the future of recreational marijuana either in Toronto or West Hollywood.On a bustling stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard lined by vintage stores and eateries, the MedMen shop looks right at home. You can find Alan's interview on Real Vision TV.
West Hollywood, CA
Sunlight streams in through the store’s floor-to-ceiling windows. Inside, salespeople in bright red T-shirts greet shoppers. Merchandise is carefully arranged on sleek wooden tables lined with iPads.
It’s a retail scene reminiscent of an Apple store, but the high-tech gadgets on sale are vape pens.
After years of bullet-proof glass and burglar bars, marijuana shops are starting to get a makeover.
Cannabis entrepreneurs, borrowing from successful retailers such as Apple and Whole Foods, are opening dispensaries with natural light, spacious displays and open-floor plans. With weed now legal for recreational use in California and seven other states, such amenities could attract an anticipated glut of new customers who are less familiar with cannabis and may be put off by the industry’s generally dingy shopping experience.
There is an “upscale revolution in cannabis retailing,” said Troy Dayton, chief executive of Arcview Group, a marijuana research and investment firm. “It now makes sense to invest in your property and make it awesome for the long haul.”
As more states ease restrictions on marijuana for medical and recreational use, pot is losing its stigma — bringing new consumers into a legal market forecast to grow to $50 billion in 2026 from $6 billion last year, according to a report from Cowen & Co.
The biggest source of potential growth is older customers who have disposable income but are more reluctant to patronize the types of shops that have traditionally sold marijuana, said Vivien Azer, a managing director at Cowen who analyzes the cannabis industry.
From 2011 to 2015, marijuana users 26 years old and up grew by more than 30%, while those ages 18 to 25 climbed only about 4% (young people still represent the bulk of those who admit to using pot), Azer said.
“The guy ripping bong hits every day is not buying higher-end,” Azer said. “It is women and wealthier consumers that under-index for cannabis use” — representing a huge potential market ripe for a retail experience, she said, that is less "drug dealer” and more “legitimate.”
MedMen co-founder and Chief Executive Adam Bierman has a nickname for what he considers the biggest untapped demographic: “the Chardonnay mom.” These are well-to-do customers who don’t currently use pot, but might be introduced to it by friends at a party or peek in while walking past an attractive boutique.
“They see this store and say, ‘Oh, I’ll try those breath mints,” Bierman said. “They start becoming someone who is substituting marijuana for alcohol or something else.”
The company also manages growing and manufacturing operations, including a dispensary and cultivation facility in L.A’s Sun Valley neighborhood. Cultivation facilities are in the works outside Reno, in Desert Hot Springs and in Utica, N.Y. (MedMen is managing four dispensaries in New York, including one in Manhattan.) But key to its success is an in-store experience that offers the same operational savvy and attention to detail common in more “vanilla businesses,” Bierman said.
“There is no statute that requires tinted windows or bars — it’s because of that feeling that this is an illicit product,” Bierman said.
Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Andrew Modlin said he looked to retailers such as Apple and even restaurants for ideas.
For More on MedMen please go to the Full Article wtih the LA Times.
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Tokyo Smoke Called this - "Marijuana shops are trying to look like the Apple store"
