Inside the World of the Dispensary Interior Design

The first medical cannabis dispensary to open its doors in the United States was the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club in 1994. Since then, thousands of cannabis dispensaries, both medical and recreational, have popped up.

According to a 2020 report by the US-based tech firm Kisi, there are 7,490 dispensaries across the United States. More are sure to open as soon as more states legalize recreational cannabis and issue retail licenses.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has made customers grow accustomed to the convenience of delivery services, brick-and-mortar cannabis dispensaries are still vital for the industry.

In fact, the legal industry is still in a phase of adaptation. There are many challenges that industry players are facing, including the illegality of cannabis at the federal level, cannabis banking restrictions, and the still-present stigma surrounding cannabis and its consumers.

For these reasons, among others, retailers who want to open up a dispensary should be mindful of the importance of how their dispensary looks and what kind of experience they want to offer their customers.

Like any other sector, competition in the cannabis space includes aesthetics as well as what feelings and sensations a dispensary can instill in its consumers.

NYSCC recently interviewed Danielle Marzarella, vice president of business strategy & design development for SevenPoint Interiors, a Toronto-based cannabis-focused interior design firm. SevenPoint Interiors focuses on the interior concept and environment for cannabis dispensaries by providing interior design services, later manufacturing the entire interior space through its parent company, Visual Elements.

Robert Turk and John Simmen, owners of SevenPoint Interioriors, have been in the business of designing retail environments for over thirty years, having worked with several mainstream companies in that time.

Marzarella told NYSCC that when Canada legalized recreational cannabis four years ago, SevenPoint recognized that there was an opportunity to leverage all the experience they had in developing and building interiors for mainstream brands and provide their high-level retail design and manufacturing services to the cannabis industry.

"All the solutions we provide are customizable solutions for brands that need to develop an identity as they enter the cannabis market. One of the first clients we had was Spirit Leaf. We had the opportunity to develop the interior design and manufacture for close to one hundred locations," she said.

When SevenPoint Interiors first jumped into the cannabis space, the need for brands to enter the industry with a distinct personality was a little different than it is today.

"The retail experience concept was not as privileged and not as well absorbed as it is today, where the brands are starting to [ramp] up and the competition is starting to get stronger. Creating a brand experience and putting your footprint in the sand around who you are, what you represent, and how you enter the market is much more important. The interior design experience has much to do with that," Marzarella said.

She recounted that it was challenging to work with some brands initially, but today cannabis businesses understand that the landscape of the competition has changed. SevenPoint Interiors doesn't deal only with Canadian businesses; it has worked with US brands as well.

"Locations in Canada are smaller than the ones in the United States. Also, the footprints that work in both countries are different in the operations. Although it can differ state by state, US customers have a more newbie explorer's attitude. At the same time, Canadians are a bit more mature, because here cannabis sales became legal four years ago," Marzarella said.

For a dispensary interior design firm like SevenPoint Interiors, the main goal is to identify the cannabis brand's identity and understand the operations of the business, what they want, and how they need to render their business.

Marzarella told NYSCC that the dispensary interior design firm's role is to develop the look of the brand's location and make sure it will be successful.

"We have seen a trend in acknowledging and understanding visual merchandising. How you are putting out the product and the visual communication along with the product information will be a bigger focus. People understand its need and importance, because you cannot touch and feel the product in all situations. In cannabis dispensaries, the products are behind the glass. Therefore, you have to be very mindful of how the products are displayed and what kind of product information is [joined] with it to ensure that people know what they are shopping for," she said.

Nowadays, cannabis product information can be provided by integrated tablets and in-store touchscreen retail displays on the wall to allow customers to research information or to share the effects of products. These features improve the user experience and let customers actively participate in their product research, easily order products, and get educated in an interactive way.

"If you are looking for customer loyalty, there will always be loyalty for brands that you feel good about when you are inside dispensaries. So, the interior design of a dispensary helps create the feel of the experience when you are inside. The brand includes the business's personality. We take that and create an experience and an environment that reflects that brand. Anybody who is a shopper walks into a store and enjoys their experience," Marzarella said, adding that the customer service should be excellent. The interior design alone doesn't drive customer satisfaction and profit; it has to be coupled with impeccable customer service and products.

When asked whether cannabis retailers still need a physical shop to start their business in a market where delivery services seem more convenient, Marzarella told NYSCC that not every consumer is a cannabis connoisseur.

"You still need to provide the opportunity [for] someone to come in and understand what's new and how to use a cannabis product. The education part is not going away, and I think people want to interact with other people, especially when dealing with something new, such as cannabis. As part of the customer experience, dispensaries can provide drive-thrus, express pickup areas, and curbside pickup."

The cost to open a dispensary with customized interior design features may vary depending on the budget.

"I can't give you an exact budget. We have solutions that fit anybody's budget. In some cases, the solution can be very customized. We also provide program systems where we have a program that is pre-engineer[ed] or designed, a solution in a system called 'modular system' that includes tables, glass cases, shelves units, and POS systems. This kind of solution makes it very easy for us to provide a quick and simple solution for those on a tight timeline or [that] have a tight budget," Marzarella said.

To learn more about their design services, visit SevenPointInteriors.com.