Marijuana Business Magazine April 2019

Marijuana Business Magazine | April 2019 68 floor that is built for accommodating a high volume of foot traffic that allows customers to navigate the space comfort- ably,” said Shaya Brodchandel, CEO of Harmony, a vertically integrated medical marijuana business in New Jersey with a retail store in Secaucus. Create ample space at counters or on the retail floor for customers to navigate product displays and consult with bud- tenders, advised Stephen Matt, the chief medical officer at Caliva, a vertically integrated California marijuana business with a dispensary in San Jose. To that end, hire a professional retail designer to consult on counter height, aisle width, foot-traffic patterns, building materials and lighting, Matt added. Those elements will help you create a welcoming, warm retail experience, he noted. Do provide customers with in-store options for checkout or medical marijuana consultations. Provide an express lane or separate pick- up counter for online orders and create a private space for medical marijuana patients to consult with budtenders. “Everything in our design is based on making it as easy as possible for the customer to purchase,” said Groesbeck of Las Vegas-based Planet 13. Some retailers—including Planet 13 and Denver’s Seed & Smith—have express-checkout options for customers who place online orders. Such consumers can bypass lines and pick up and pay for products more quickly. Customers at Planet 13 also can re- quest a personal budtender to help them with the purchase process, and in-store kiosks give customers another option for purchasing cannabis. Patients at Harmony’s New Jersey dispensary have small consultation rooms where they can talk with patient advisers about their medical conditions. Those rooms ensure patient privacy, according to Brodchandel at New Jersey’s Harmony dispensary. Do create visual product displays. Create visual displays with products neatly arranged and accompanied by product information, including strain names and the amount of THC and CBD in them, Brodchandel said. The Caliva dispensary in San Jose, California, uses glass display cases to showcase products. Courtesy Photo