The Dispensary Model Is Dead. It’s Time for Something Fresh.

Let’s be real: walking into a dispensary in 2025 feels like stepping into 2015. Same setup, same slow procedures, find parking (good luck in some cities), wade through security, flash your ID (sometimes more than once), wait for a budtender, and maybe, maybe, the whole process takes 10-15 minutes. And that’s on a quiet day.

I have spent about 5 years analyzing customers across multiple states and hundreds of dispensaries, and did you know:

77% of cannabis customers say dispensaries all feel the same? All that money, millions in some cases, designing dispensary sales floors to appeal to customers - just to have customers race to the dispensary with the best deal.

11% show up unsure of what they want when they head to their dispensary. 

This isn’t the beginning days of cannabis, people know their strain, their budget, what they are looking for. So why are we still stuck in this cookie-cutter storefront BS? Why do these ‘professionals’ at these agencies get paid big bucks by these multi-state-operators to basically come up with the same thing people have been doing since day one - except with flashier lights?

In this post-COVID time, where people find it a hassle to get out of the house to simply go to the movie theater, dispensaries are still being designed with the same thought as if people actually give a shit and are excited to go to a dispensary like they were in the past. 67% of customers aren’t happy with curbside pickup, if even available, because it’s barely a step up from just going inside. Browsing? That’s dead too, unless you are a tourist. The shiny newness of dispensaries wore off years ago. Customers aren’t window-shopping; they want their weed and they want to get out. Freshness is the #1 concern of regular/local customers. So, make this info available online when you are uploading the terpene info. and you basically negated the only issue your regular customers may have.

With over 12,000 dispensaries across this country, almost all following the same basic concept since the very first dispensary, the cannabis game needs a shakeup. Something fast, bold, and built for the regular who’s done wasting time. Or else global cannabis markets like Thailand could leave us behind.

I’m working on a concept that’s not like the tired old model - design for the modern cannabis consumer. If you’re intrigued and want to learn more, or if you’re in the cannabis space and ready to rethink the status quo, reach out aaron@aaronleforce.com, and let’s spark a revolution together.