SANTA ANA, Calif. – Cannabis “superstore” Planet 13 is coming to Southern California, according to reports in the Orange County Register. With a flagship store located in Las Vegas, called the “largest cannabis dispensary in the world,” Planet 13 was recently featured in mg Magazine.
The destination dispensary and entertainment center is scheduled to be open by early 2020, and will be located in any industrial area of Santa Ana.
According to OCRegister.com, the selection of the City of Santa Ana by the Planet 13 came after a long deliberation over where to put their first California location. Santa Ana beat competitors due to its status as the only city located in Orange County that allows cannabis retail facilities (the town of Laguna Woods, located in Orange County, also allows cannabis retail locations, but has no commercial property available).
The ratio of available retail cannabis licenses to local population numbers also seemed favorable to the planned expansion, Planet 13 co-Chief Executive Officer Larry Scheffler told the newspaper.
While the OC Register described the unique facility as the “Disneyland of Cannabis,” the $7.3 million first Planet 13 location in Las Vegas has a galactic theme, with 40,000 square feet of cannabis-inspired art, interactive attractions, and next level digital installations keeping crowds amused before, during, and after their purchase.
Located across the street from the upscale Wynn complex of shopping and hotels, Planet 13 attracts attention along the busy Las Vegas Strip, marked by a huge red planet. Fifteen-foot interactive LED lotus flowers sprout from the roof. “The lotus flowers can be controlled by visitors, making them bilateral pieces of art as they change colors, sequences, and patterns,” Planet 13 Director of Marketing David Farris told mg Magazine.
Co-CEO Scheffler told the OC Register that he felt entertainment-style retail was a “natural” for the area, and that the new location would conform to Southern California-style features; similarly to the concepts used in the Nevada store, which were designed to convey a uniquely Vegas experience.
The Las Vegas Planet 13 location will also expand to include the new Purc coffee shop and Rickety Cricket Pizzeria and Bistro, as well as a “front-facing” cannabis production facility, which are currently under construction, though no date has been given for completion.
“Experiential marketing” is a trending strategy for connecting with retail consumers through emotion and evocative brand-related experiences. Millennial and younger demographics are said to be motivated more by experiences and Instagram-worthy moments, than by conspicuous consumption of consumer goods.
Planet 13 Holdings (OTCMKTS: PLNHF) rating was raised to “buy,” by a Northland Securities analyst, on news of the California expansion.
