TORONTO – Canadian modular construction company POPCANN has announced its line of prefabricated cannabis retail store structures created from repurposed shipping containers. The POPCANN is designed for rapid set-up and deployment, with use in remote permanent locations and even as temporary retail pop-up stores for events.
“Our mandate is to ensure legal cannabis is made accessible to customers wherever they may be,” POPCANN co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Jake Neiman said in a press release. “Optimal sizes and layouts enable us to bring legal cannabis to northern communities, music festivals, seasonal towns, and other non-traditional environments, and offer a truly unique retail experience.”
“Our focus is to bring legal, safe cannabis to locations that don’t have access to a store,” Neiman told mgRetailer. “All the big guys are okay with building a superstore in Toronto or Ottawa, but what about other small towns? The black market is thriving in places like that and other venues where they can distribute, because customers have no choice. So, we’re providing a solution for customers and legal vendors to have an option that’s compliant.”
Each custom store interior is planned using the “latest experiential and projection mapping technology,” in compliance with governmental regulations, as well as responsive features for ease of operation. In comparison to building out a storefront location from scratch, some vendors may see the modular units as a time- and cost-saving option. Store design features include patent-pending security technology for age-restricted entrance, secure ordering, and fulfillment onsite.
The structure of the steel shipping containers is extremely durable, said Neiman, and the product vault area in each POPCANN is walled with reinforced steel. The units also come with a total of eleven indoor and outdoor security cameras.
In addition to retail facility usage, containers can also be designed in different environments including cannabis education center, medical cannabis clinic, consumption lounge, or experiential destination.
“Our proposed strategy uniquely enables provinces and states across North America to convert ‘opt outs’ into ‘opt ins’, through a new process that allows municipalities to test legal cannabis retailing within their regions, away from residential areas and traditional retail centers,” POPCANN co-founder and President Michael Girgis said in the press release. “We’ve put together innovative, turn-key solutions and our team bring extensive experience working with various levels of government.”
In an exclusive partnership with Canada’s leading self-storage company Storage Vault, the company has plans to locate 200 POPCANN cannabis retail units at various Storage Vault storage facility locations across Canada, in small towns, as well as First Nation and rural areas.
“Our partnership with POPCANN is an excellent example of how very different businesses can team up in creative ways,” said Storage Vault Chief Executive Officer Steven Scott in the release. “This partnership provides POPCANN with a national infrastructure, logistics and distribution platform to bring legal cannabis to Canadians from secure, yet accessible areas.”
In the U.S., Neiman hinted that the company has been in talks with leading cannabis retail vendors that are interested in offering their customers more location options. “It’s a really cost-effective way for some of these retailers to expand their footprint quickly,” Neiman explained.
“We’re focused on a very efficient customer experience,” Neiman added. “And we’ve gotten some great response from people that are interested as retailers–but regulators are responding well, also, because we’re bringing a legal alternative to customers.”
