Barneys will have to cultivate.
‘That demographic is already buying
cannabis,’ says David Abernathy, Arcview’s
vice president of data and government affairs.
‘It’s just that people haven’t really figured out
how to find those customers and how to get
them to pay huge premiums.... It’s not a ter-
ribly difficult problem to solve.’
The High End beckons shoppers with
marble walls and displays in light shades of
green, white and orange, evoking the lustrous
1970s ‘California minimal vibe’ that the in-
house designers sought. Sleek, dark-charcoal
‘Parchment Egg’ chairs tell customers to
‘sit and relax’. The shop speaks more to the
refinement of weekday cocktail hour of the
Mad Men era than to the barebones, cash-
only cannabis dispensaries that first popu-
lated the medicinal and retail landscapes.
As marijuana regulations ease, retail-
ers have turned their focus to the shopping
experience, says Megan Stone, founder and
principal of The High Road Design Studio
in Arizona. ‘Brand is very important to our
clients because they have to find a way to dif-
ferentiate themselves when they can’t rely ondifferentiating themselves from the products
that they’re selling,’ says Stone, who special-
izes in cannabis stores and dispensaries.
As the cannabis industry starts to
mature, consumers are expecting pot-
buying experience to resemble stores like
cosmetics chain Sephora and luxury jeweller
Tiffany & Co., says Stone. If all goes well,
Barneys has also hinted at plans to expand
The High End. The department store has
more than a half a dozen locations where
marijuana is fully legal. – EK
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