Denver: 100 Marijuana Stores in 1 Weekend!
We are just recovering from a whirlwind tour of Denver, where we visited over 100 marijuana stores (retail and medical) in a single weekend.
What a difference a year makes! The retail experience has evolved dramatically since January 2014. Strung-up banners are slowly being replaced by proper signs and professional branding. And most stores are moving to secure their recreational license, in order to service both medical and recreational customers.
The recreational sections of stores are booming. It’s still primarily driven by the tourist trade (70-80%), although some owners said locals switch back-and-forth between retail and medical purchases based on the type of product they are buying (retail sometimes has fresher product, given that items are flying off-the-shelves). We saw an incredible variety of new products. Colorado companies are innovating and leading the country in this respect.
Here’s a brief roundup of some stores we saw:
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Incredible branding and design: Sweat Leaf; Native Roots
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Best overall retail experience: Green Solutions; Strainwise
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Something different. Innovative retail experiences: Euflora (16th Street Mall), where product is displayed in jars in front of individual ipads, and customers used handheld barcode scanners to create their order; Botanico (Rino District), where customers are given one-on-one treatment in private consultation rooms
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Most informative staff: Max, at Ganja Gourmet (Broadway) on edible and infused products; Teresa, at Little Brown House (Broadway) on topicals, creams, patches, and pain management.
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Most dedicated patient advocate: Melissa at Denver Dam (Ivy Street)
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Downright grouchy: Greenleaf (South Quebec)
