As the industry matures, one of the most noticeable trends is a shift toward high-end dispensary designs. In many jurisdictions, shops no longer are relegated to back alleys but instead stake their claim to prime retail real estate where the cost to build out a sophisticated space easily can run into seven figures. The price tag is out of reach to would-be operators who don’t have access to a spring of free-flowing capital.
The situation is changing, with companies like SevenPoint Interiors increasing access to luxurious design and customer experience via sleek turnkey display solutions. Seven Point, a designer and fabricator based in Toronto, launched its solution in December.
The company itself was formed in 2017 as an offshoot of longstanding design house Visual Elements. Specializing in retail environment design for luxury clothing brands like Coach and Louis Vuitton, founders and principals Robert Turk and John Simmen developed SevenPoint to serve demand from the cannabis industry.
SevenPoint emerged at a moment when Canadian legalization was cresting over the horizon and the industry rapidly was professionalizing. The founders’ experience appealed to ambitious cannabis operators who wanted to create emporiums in the vein of the luxury boutiques upon which Visual Elements built its reputation.
“The founders were looking at where they could add value with the experience that Visual Elements had in-house,” said Danielle Marzarella, vice president of business strategy and design development at SevenPoint. “What could we bring to the table that cannabis dispensary operators really needed?”
Turk and Simmen saw a need for a highly specialized one-stop-shop that offered branding, concept design, construction, installation, visual merchandising, and fabrication. High-end, cohesive custom build-outs for big names like Cresco Labs, Friendly Stranger, and The Hunny Pot were the bread and butter of SevenPoint’s business until the company expanded its breadth of clients considerably by creating an affordable alternative.
“We learned not everybody has the timeline or the budget for a custom concept design,” said Marzarella. “But a lot of those clients still wanted to have a beautiful, well-functioning interior, so we knew there was a big opportunity there.”
The perceived desire for affordably priced fixtures and display units that could be adapted to fit a host of brand guidelines led SevenPoint to create The Module System, which Marzarella described as “a pre-engineered fixture system.”
“The Module System is very flexible and adaptable to a multitude of environments,” she said. “It allows full versatility to display any type of product, covering everything from shelving to [point-of-sale] stations.”
The Module System’s catalog contains fixtures like open shelves with product displays and cubbies, display tables and vitrines, and proprietary flower capsule jars and risers. Everything is available in a variety of materials and finishes, allowing the units to align neatly with almost any brand aesthetic.
In addition to its reasonable price point, The Module System also is time-conscious. “From an execution standpoint, we’re able to use this solution to bring speed to market,” said Marzarella. “That really solved a problem and a trending need in the industry.”
SevenPoint has deployed the system in more than twenty dispensaries since December. Marzarella said projects take about three to four months to complete when working with a client’s floor plan and brand aesthetic.
Holly Cottrell, who joined SevenPoint in 2018 to bring deep dispensary experience to the company’s credentials, said The Module System is designed with scaling and flexibility in mind. “For those who want to open more than one location, our system helps them fit into a variety of unorthodox spaces,” she said. “They are able to recreate their brand and design in virtually any environment. Some of our national clients that are transitioning their brand into an existing operating location are finding the system a great solution to rebranding and remodeling quickly with little to no downtime.”
Marzarella and Cottrell are quick to explain SevenPoint’s offerings go beyond the aesthetic of the store. “It’s not just about what [the location] looks like,” said Marzarella, who prior to joining SevenPoint served as divisional vice president at Coach. “It’s about how your dispensary behaves. We always try to create the most effective dispensary experiences for guests, but also for employees. We like to consider what is the most efficient path through the store, not just for the customer coming in the front, but [also] the product coming through the back.”
While The Module System is in its infancy, SevenPoint sees a big opportunity for dispensary design evolution and plans to continue building its catalog. “We will add to the collection and update it with new product line designs, components, and merchandise solutions,” Marzarella said. “We have some exciting merchandising display tools that are equally as flexible for wall, counter, and tabletop product display and help to showcase the product and up-sell to maximize the sales opportunity.”
Contact SevenPoint Interiors at (855) 234-3090 to learn more about The Module System or any other services related to custom retail interior design.
