MedMen CEO Adam Bierman:
"We have to move beyond Bob Marley posters and security bars"
The article explored the cannabis retail scene in California, which has a bustling medical marijuana market worth some $3 billion and a recreational market scheduled to blossom in 2018. The article highlighted a MedMen managed dispensary in West Hollywood, the flagship store for the Los Angeles-based cannabis management and investment firm.
With legal cannabis sales reaching nearly $7 billion last year and projected to grow by a compound annual growth rate of 25 percent through the remainder of the decade, it is only natural that the retail sector would respond by providing a true consumer experience to medical and recreational users.
"Cannabis is on the brink of mainstream, if it is not mainstream already," said Adam Bierman, MedMen's chief executive. "We have to move beyond Bob Marley posters and security bars. We have to offer patients and customers a shopping experience that caters to their needs. That's what every other retailer in a mainstream industry does."
That means stores designed to showcase a wide selection of products to a discerning and educated clientele that expects a consistent experience. The MedMen West Hollywood dispensary, for example, offers nearly 2,000 SKUs - everything from edibles and concentrates to pet products and the traditional flowers, in an airy, brightly lit store with glass displays and iPad menus.
The trend is also leading to an explosion of products aimed at capturing new cannabis consumers, according to the International Business Times.
Vivien Azer, a managing director at Cowen and Company, one of the first Wall Street investment banks to cover the cannabis industry, told the Los Angeles Times "The guy ripping bong hits every day is not buying higher end. It is women and wealthier consumers that under index for cannabis use," representing a huge potential market ripe for a retail experience, that is less "drug dealer" and "more legitimate."