i+D - March/April 2019 - 38

A Growing Opportunity - By Brian Libby

Know the Laws

Know the Customers

This is a rapidly changing industry, where a host of security-oriented
limitations on the retail experience may give way to more relaxed conditions
a year or two later or in a different jurisdiction, particularly in the United
States. Designing for flexibility is especially important for this industry.
"These spaces will grow and incorporate to larger degrees the flourish of
interior design considerations, but they also must serve the immediate need
to operate," Berg explains. Yet, given the many stereotypes and stigmas
that remain about cannabis because of its long prohibition, design has an
outsized role in changing perceptions and creating new audiences. Cannabis
dispensaries can assume any number of stylistic inspirations, making them
an opportunity for creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. Yet, designers
also are finding the diverse demographics of buyers respond to design
cues differently.

If there's one guiding principle for dispensary designers, it's to understand
the client's customers. That was essential to Toronto firm figure3's design
for the Surterra Wellness dispensary chain's first franchise, in Tampa,
Florida. "What really excited us was to take a product with all these negative
connotations attached to it and revisit the experience and the touch points,"
explains Mardi Najafi, figure3's retail design director, "to change
the perception."

As always in retail design, knowing your customer is key. With dispensaries,
however, knowing the ins and outs of varying state and local regulations
becomes particularly important. "A lot of states are pulling language for retail
operation from other successful adult-use programs like Colorado, Oregon,
and California," says Jeffrey D. Welsh of Frontera Law Group, a Venice,
California-based firm, which advises cannabis-industry clients. "Each state or
locality has specific state rules for retail operation that you have to be mindful
of. But, we are well past the tipping point of adult-use cannabis legislation in
the United States."

"They told us, 'This looks like a space where pharmacists would go and
buy their drugs,' Najafi recalls. "We realized we should not lead with science.
It triggered the wrong elements." Instead, figure3 designers organized client
responses into a series of topic areas they called frames, both negative and
positive. Positive frames for medical cannabis centered around nature
and compassion. "We heard from them, 'It comes from nature and that can't
be bad,'" the designer remembers. "It was providing compassion and love,
much like food does. That was the eureka moment for our design team.
We realized it shouldn't look like a skin care store or a pharmacy. It should
trigger the food experience."

By studying Surterra's customers, the designers saved their client from
sending the wrong message. Initially, the company wanted to ape the look
of a high-end skin care product store. But, focus groups among Surterra's
clientele, mostly middle-aged caregivers obtaining medical cannabis for loved
ones with chronic ailments, unveiled a negative reaction to that style.

In addition to insisting on fully transparent floor-to-ceiling glass in the front
of the store to implicitly assure customers these cannabis sales were taking
place in the open, without illicitness or shame, figure3's design tried to make
Surterra feel like a home. Upon entering, customers reach what looks like
a kitchen island, where they talk informally with a staff member about what
they need and engage with the product. One can then continue into more
private rooms with comfortable seating where further consultations take place
with more privacy. On the other side of the space is a more traditional display
area and register that's designed to subtly suggest a garden, with a trellis-like
form anchoring presentations of lotions and tinctures (a focus here rather
than loose-leaf cannabis flower), as well as grassy-toned carpet and naturally
stained wood walls. Even the lighting is meant to mimic natural sunlight.
"It's akin to plucking the product from the garden," Najafi says.
The dispensary has not only been a hit with customers, but it has helped
convince higher-end malls and developments to allow cannabis-based
retailers. According to the designer, "It changed the perception of everyone
in the community."

A welcoming setting
at Surterra Wellness
features areas where
customers can discuss
their product needs
informally with a
staff member.

Meanwhile, Najafi's Toronto firm increasingly is turning its attention to
Canada, where recreational cannabis is now legal, from Vancouver in the
west to Nova Scotia in the east. "Sales will be handled slightly differently
in each province and territory, resulting in a mix of private, licensed, and
government-run retail outlets across the country," Najafi explains. "Rules and
regulations are quite strict. But, it is still to be seen how store design may
influence legislation, as with our Surterra example. We are currently in talks
with some major players in Canada and the U.S. who are planning to open
stores in the near future."

(Image: Chad Keffer)

38

i+D - March/April 2019
i+D - March/April 2019

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