Design: Retail Best Practices

By Ryan McBride, Creative Director

One of our recent projects, Pineapple Express, offered us the exciting challenge of applying our retail design knowledge to an exploding new industry. Pineapple Express aims to become the first national cannabis chain of stores and production facilities. The firm came to The McBride Company for a retail store concept to help get the brand off the ground.

Many of the unique aspects associated with successful retail store design are only now starting to be explored within the legal cannabis industry. When it comes to delivering a great customer shopping experience, elements such as guest flow, product placement and store layout are part of a proven retail design formula. These are a few of the goals we kept in mind during our concept approach:

Create a comfortable environment. Customers should feel encouraged to stick around and browse at their leisure. Creating this sense of freedom isn’t easy in the marijuana industry. Cannabis products need to be highly secured and guest interaction with staff is often centered around an intimidating consultation counter. To help provide a browser-friendly experience, Pineapple Express stores will be stocked with miscellaneous retail products like books, clothing and novelty items that give customers an opportunity to ‘just explore’.

Entertain. Even if you’re just tagging along with a friend, Pineapple Express is a fun place to be. We created the Mystic Pineapple as the store’s most overt homage to the cannabis culture. In addition to offering a natural photo opportunity (glowing in the center of the store), it’s equipped with motion sensors and the ability to “suggest” which cannabis strain to buy…Encourage community. The store layout includes space for comfortable seating areas with oversized, plush furniture. This is to encourage a “lounge” atmosphere, so customers don’t feel forced to get in and out quickly. These areas also serve as places for consumers to consult with Pineapple Express staff in a relaxed manner.