Can you give us a quick history of Cannabis City?
We were the first store to open in Seattle in July, 2014, and the second store to open in the state just by a couple hours. Dr. James Lathrop is our founder & owner. He opened up his practice basically right next door to the dispensary. He is a practicing doctor (working on his second PhD) who is very into cannabis. He entered the cannabis industry for the medical benefits but aimed toward the recreational side because he knew where the industry was inevitably going.
How many locations do you have?
We've had the same location since we opened, and we plan to expand.
What was the inspiration behind the design of your dispensary?
It's an interesting, fairly small space. We were limited when we first opened up because there were very few locations that we could use, but we have really made it our own. When people walk in, we really want them to feel comfortable in a relaxed, casual setting with a little bit of an impact that says "wow, look how much stuff they have!" We make it clear that we carry the most products of anyone in the state.
What sets your dispensary apart, why do consumers revisit your store?
I believe that the reason that we've been able to hold our ground with all of the competition is that we're still growing a customer base. We want to be the place where the budtenders are very knowledgeable, have great customer service, and you not only have a wide selection of products but a large selection of price points too so there's something for everyone. It's all about service and value.
Can you give us a quick history of Diego Pellicer?
The original idea came from a man named Jim Shipley. He worked at Microsoft for a couple of decades and always loved the idea of the cannabis industry. Shipley launched a brand known as Diego Pellicer, the name of his great grandfather, and became the world's largest hemp producer in the 1990s.
How many locations do you have?
We have one location on 4th Ave in South Seattle. We are opening a second location in Colorado in January. We want to open a Diego Pellicer dispensary everywhere it's recreationally legal.
What was the inspiration behind the design of your dispensary?
All of the tiles we have in the shop were imported from Spain, all the live flowers are from Hawaii, and all the cabinets are handmade. We definitely put in a great deal of work with this place. Every store is going to have a high-end boutique look. We want everyone from 21 to 100 to walk in and feel like they're walking into a high-end jewelry store or a Vegas-style lobby. Meanwhile, we will still keep the prices low and competitive.
What sets your dispensary apart, why do consumers revisit your store?
We do our research on pricing and products, and we hire knowledgeable people - budtenders that definitely know what's up and aren't too high to answer questions. When you walk into the store, you get that very "homey" feeling right away because it's warm and inviting and you don't feel rushed to get in and out of the store. You're allowed to walk around and look at whatever you want with nobody hard-selling anything.
Can you give us a quick history of Ganja Goddess?
We opened in November, 2014 as the fourth store in Seattle and the first women-owned and operated store. Because this is a plant that makes you feel good, our philosophy is to create a place where people walk in and feel good. We wanted to especially cater to women, because a lot of the medical stores have been male-dominated. Meanwhile, we know that women have actually been the ones using cannabis as a medicinal herb for thousands of years. We wanted to bring that back to them! The most important thing to me is to make sure that everyone who work here loves coming to work. We provide a working environment that is pretty progressive - as it should be in the cannabis industry.
How many locations do you have?
We just have the one location right now on 1st Ave in Seattle.
What was the inspiration behind the design of your dispensary?
The owner, Tara, has an amazing sense of style. The builder actually designed and built several yoga studios and uses sacred geometry as a central part of his building. When you walk into our place, it really has the feeling of a temple. The first thing you see when you come in is the statue of Buddha, the flower of life symbol behind it. We always try to have some plants around and just want to make people feel comfortable, with the industry and with dispensaries.
What sets your dispensary apart, why do consumers revisit your store?
It's the customer service. It's not just one person; every single employee provides superior customer service, helping you figure out what you want and personalizing your whole experience. I have a background in education, so everyone I hire has to want to be an educator. We don't call them budtenders, we call them cannabis specialists. Each one has a 401k plan, and we see to it that they're always fed at work.
Plus, we are in it for the long term! We want to develop a relationship with our community and improve it in any way we can with this wonderful plant. We also really like to support the art community. We have a few local artists come into the store and put on some mini shows, and we have live music every Friday night. It's a way for people waiting in line to see some new artists in our community.
Can you give us a quick history of The Green Door?
We were one of the first medical dispensaries in Seattle, starting in 2010. Then, Washington outlawed all the medical dispensaries, forcing a shift to recreational dispensaries. This past July, we moved around the corner from where our old medical shop used to be into a bigger recreational store.
How many locations do you have?
We have 1 location on Rainier Ave in Seattle.
What was the inspiration behind the design of your dispensary?
It's one of the more spacious dispensaries around. Our place was an old dim sum restaurant that had a bunch of cool artwork on the walls. We actually kept the artwork on the ceiling that looks like the sky. Our regulars love to get out of the cold, rainy Seattle weather and see a nice sunny day. We have a big wall of astroturf since we are selling grass after all! Oh, be sure to check out the side of our building where one of our employees created a graffiti mural based off of different cannabis strains.
What sets your dispensary apart, why do consumers revisit your store?
We hold our employees to the highest standard of customer service. We definitely cater to the community and to all of our customers. It's a very wide range of people that come to our store. Some are corporate CEOs and others are regulars, and everyone knows each other by name. In that way Green Door has a kind Cheers vibe to it.
Can you give us a quick history of Green Fire?
We've came from the medical marijuana market and took the steps in 2013 to become a recreational shop. We've also always been a glass shop. We collect heady pieces and recently started to expand our gallery.
How many locations do you have?
We just have the one shop.
What was the inspiration behind the design of your dispensary?
The location that we were previously in was a restaurant and a club, so we still have the old bartop. We've just put a little marijuana spin to it. Usually the first thing customers see is the big steel door at the entrance. Then they notice exactly about how big the space is. We have about 1000 square feet of wood flooring, the gorgeous glass gallery, the classic bar seats, and lots of shelving to show off our products.
What sets your dispensary apart, why do consumers revisit your store?
First of all, we have an excellent location here off of 1st Ave near the stadium, so we get a lot of foot traffic especially in the summertime. There are about 8 or 9 other stores within a two mile radius with steep pricing. Coming from the medical market, we understand that there are people who don't need to be paying such ridiculous mark-up prices for retail marijuana. We offer really competitive prices and carry high-testing product. Everything that comes through our door is inspected because we want to make sure that it's up to par with our standards.
Can you give us a quick history of Have a Heart?
We were established in 2011 as a medical shop. We were medical until 2014, and now we're medical and recreational.
How many locations do you have?
We have 6 shops, but Belltown is our most eye-catching location.
What was the inspiration behind the design of your dispensary?
We wanted to make it both eye-catching and iconic. Our design is meant to fit just about everyone, from the cannabis kid who comes in to buy an 1/8th to the tourists entering their first cannabis store and buying their first edible.
Basically, we wanted to truly give something back to our community. Downtown Seattle has incredible art and murals, so we wanted to fit that idea. We have a 50 foot wall of weed, we have the world's largest LED joint, and a quarter pound of Granddaddy Purple encased in a crystal chandelier above the door when you first walk in - we actually gave a similar piece to Snoop Dogg when he came in to visit!
What sets your dispensary apart, why do consumers revisit your store?
We have all the weed you need. We pride ourselves on having the biggest selection of product with the best prices and the best quality. We also pride ourselves in having the most knowledgeable staff. Our location in Belltown is a great look into real Seattle. We're two blocks from Pikes Place and right around the corner from the Seattle Art Museum and the Space Needle - in other words right in the middle of all of it!
Can you give us a quick history of Herban Legends?
We started in the medical marijuana market in 2012 and then made our transition into the recreational market on April 21, 2016. We are currently located in downtown Seattle - right next to the ports.
How many locations do you have?
We have one location in Belltown Seattle.
What was the inspiration behind the design of your dispensary?
We want to be a brand that mimics the heritage of our community, and our shop needed to be both visually appealing and comfortable for consumers. We went with rustic wood, and everything inside the shop was sourced and put together by one craftsman. He is fantastic! He actually lives in a teepee for half of the year - a super artisanal guy. Everything top to bottom was sourced responsibly because we're very conscious of what we both put into the community and what we take out of the environment.
What type of atmosphere were you trying to create with those designs?
Well we wanted to create a warm and inviting atmosphere. Because marijuana is coming out of the darkness in terms of legality, we wanted to make a safe place where people could come learn, feel comfortable, and enjoy the aesthetic. We let our customer service do the rest.
What sets your dispensary apart, why do consumers revisit your store?
The top reason is customer service. We pride ourselves on educating our consumers because we have the opportunity to both establish and elevate vocabulary in an industry that really isn't defined yet. We make sure to always greet people when they come through the door and answer any question no matter how large or small - that means being very knowledgeable on every aspect of cannabis. Product curation is another big focus. We are very particular about what we carry in the store, so we're going to carry things that you see in other stores - the big names - but we're also going to carry the smaller guys if we find that the value and quality are up to par.
Can you give us a quick history of Stash Pot Shop?
We come from a long history of cannabis use and cultivation, and began our journey in the medical industry with a small dispensary called Professional Patient Co-op, which opened in 2011. Both the dispensary and our recreational stores were designed to invite people from beyond stereotypical cannabis culture, so that everyone, not just the grandfathered cannabis community, feels welcome and comfortable. Our Ballard location opened in August 2015.
'Community. Culture. Cannabis.' is our company's life blood. We use our motto as the framework for who we are as a company, as a foundation for our marketing model, as a guide for our customer service standards, and to fine-tune the trajectory of our philanthropic outreach. We work steadfastly to be seen as responsible members of, and contributors to, the small business community, and as credible pioneers in the fledgling industry.
How many locations do you have?
We have two Seattle locations - one in Ballard, and one in Lake City.
What was the inspiration behind the design of your dispensary?
Ballard has historically been a lumber and fishing area, with a wide sweep of residential homes to house those industries. In our design we borrowed some of the organic elements of traditional craftsman style homes that you see throughout the area, and updated them with a modern twist. We used lots of rich cedar paneling, cherry cabinetry, natural patina steel, and sleek, sharp lines -- paying homage to the likes of local legend, Tom Kundig. We wanted the shop to emulate the industrial meets Pacific Northwest style, that has always been evident in Ballard's architecture; a little bit of the old and innate, a little bit of the new and exciting.
What sets your dispensary apart, why do consumers revisit your store?
Beyond the welcoming environment of our stores, we have, in our humble opinion, the best staff a young business could hope for. We set lofty expectations for product knowledge and industry standards, and we are fortunate to have a team who is constantly working to exceed those goals. We believe that our focus on education, and the evaluation of individual needs, based on that education, is what keeps our customers most confident in our capacity to serve them, and keeps them coming back. A well-educated and happy staff is our first priority, because it translates directly to their ability to recognize the incredible spectrum of customers that come into the shop, and supports their understanding of how to help every customer, on a truly individual level.
Can you give us a quick history of Uncle Ike's?
Our first location is located in the Central District of Seattle. Back then, it was a pretty rough neighborhood, and we had trouble leasing out the property. I didn't know anything about the business but decided to give it a shot. We opened up in September of 2014 as the 2nd store in Seattle, and just opened our other two locations a few months ago.
How many locations do you have?
We have 3 locations.
What was the inspiration behind the design of your dispensary?
As the chief designer, I wanted to keep it really fun and approachable. I didn't want to do anything dark, heavy, or moody. We have such a range of consumers in age that we didn't want to isolate anyone. With consistent cohesive color scheme and bright skylights, we aim for clean flow throughout the store. On the East side, we have a 15 foot neon sign that says "I Like Ike." Oh, and we brought in this cool paper that's made up of vintage marijuana propaganda posters.
What sets your dispensary apart, why do consumers revisit your store?
Aside from our amazing prices, I would have to say that it's our budtenders . They are all well informed, lovely friendly people. They aren't condescending and want to answer questions and give feedback to customers at all times. Plus, we're sort of like the Costco of pot. We have the most selection in the state and our prices are by far the lowest.
Can you give us a quick history of Vela?
We have a sister store called Theorem, and we got our start there about two years ago. Vela is really the dream of our company, so we worked really hard over the past few years to get it up and running. We wanted to create a place where everyone could come together and see the entire process of cannabis. They can actually come into our store and see a live grow and processing facilities. We're the only place in Washington that offers this experience.
How many locations do you have?
We have one sister store, Theorem, that offers a similarly excellent customer experience.
What was the inspiration behind the design of your dispensary?
We wanted to create a space where anyone can come in and not feel intimidated. We tried to make it easy for people who don't know a lot about cannabis, but give experienced cannabis users a special shopping experience too. Newcomers and experienced cannabis users alike can come in to see the lifecycle of cannabis, from live plants, to an extraction lab, and shop a carefully curated selection without any pressure.
What sets your dispensary apart, why do consumers revisit your store?
You can't go anywhere else in Washington to see a grow and extraction lab along with a retail space. Also, every product in our store is sorted along the Vela Spectrum, which we designed to help our guests understand the wide range of experiences you can have with cannabis. Whether you're craving an experience of Hush (deep relaxation), Ignite (high exhilaration) or something in between, we'll help you navigate. What ultimately keeps customers coming back are the connections they make with our people. We have a friendly, welcoming, and knowledgeable team, with a genuine passion for helping people.
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