STIIIZY Is Opening a New ‘Experiential Retail Store’ in Los Angeles This Week

In California’s legacy cannabis market, medical marijuana dispensaries were largely dark, uninviting spaces that did not offer much in the way of customer experience. As the industry continues to grow and expand, however, dispensaries are redefining this retail experience, and the team at STIIIZY, a California-based cannabis brand, is laser-focused on giving cannabis consumers a unique experience at its flagship store, which will open in Los Angeles Aug. 24.

The store will feature Instagram art pods, an interactive LED tunnel extending from the check-in area to the sales floor, an inside look at the indoor cultivation facility next door and more to showcase the STIIIZY product line, which has gained a loyal following in the nearly two years since its launch, according to according to Daniel Yi, chief communications officer for the Shryne Group, a holding company that owns the brand.

“Basically, it’s an experiential retail store,” he told Cannabis Dispensary.

Photos courtesy of the Shryne Group

The location features high ceilings and an art installation by a local muralist, and the store is broken into four giant pods, Yi said. “Each one of them is like one store with all the product offerings, so that people can avoid standing in line. If one pod is very crowded, you can go to the next pod. It’s all about offering people an experience.”

STIIIZY launched into California’s medical-only market in November 2017 in preparation for adult-use legalization in January 2018. The brand produces LIIIL, a disposable vape pen, and BIIIG, a larger vape pen with a longer-lasting battery. STIIIZY’s products have expanded into Washington, Nevada and, most recently, Michigan.

Assorted STIIIZY vape pods

“STIIIZY came into it with some innovations on the battery [and] the potency of the product itself, [which uses] very clear and pure distillates from providers here in California,” Yi said. “I think, more than that, it was just how STIIIZY connected with its core customer base.”

STIIIZY targets the cannabis connoisseur, Yi said—the people who have been using cannabis for years, since the launch of California’s medical market.

The brand’s flagship store in LA is based on retail concepts used by Nike and Apple, he added, where the companies function as both a product brand and a retailer.

“We have an opportunity to not only legalize cannabis and make cannabis more of a mainstream, destigmatized product, but [also] to really build up the industry and define things like retail, and that’s what we’re trying to do with this store,” Yi said.

As cannabis moves from the dark, cramped retail locations of the past and into spaces where dispensaries can offer more to customers, STIIIZY is trying to lead the charge.

“I think we, as a brand, as a company, are trying to lend our voice to it, and what we’re saying is we need to give cannabis consumers a reason to come to our store,” Yi said. “We want them to have a great experience so that they want to come back. … We want to educate folks about cannabis. And if we do all of those things, then wherever we end up in the future, … it’s going to be a legal and normalized cannabis world."