Cannabis retailer Cresco Labs’ Sunnyside stores use design to enhance brand identity, wellness

What does this mean: Cannabis product retailers are leaders in the health and wellness space for consumers. With the category expected to hit $4.4 billion in sales in 2023, their innovative approach to physical retail — with their product-first attitude — should serve as inspiration for other consumable categories. Growing Cannabis Retailing Cresco Labs has one of the largest footprints in the U.S. with operations in 10 states, 56 retail licenses and owned dispensaries, and 21 production facilities. Cresco Labs says it was the largest wholesaler of branded products in 2021 and 2022, and the company was recognized on “Crain’s Chicago Business’” Fast 50 list in 2022 and “Inc.’s” Best Led Companies list in 2022. Founded in 2013, Cresco Labs employs a CPG approach to cannabis and merchandises national brands, including Cresco, Sunnyside, Remedi, Good News, High Supply, Wonder Wellness Co., Floracal and Mindy’s, a line of edibles created by James Beard Award-winning chef Mindy Segal. The vertically integrated cannabis operator is on a mission to normalize and professionalize cannabis. In 2021, Cresco Labs acquired Cultivate, a vertically integrated Massachusetts cannabis operator with three retail locations, for $90 million. The acquisition of Cultivate vaulted Cresco Labs to the top wholesale market share as of the third quarter of 2022 in Massachusetts, according to BDSA data, and the third more than $1 billion cannabis market in which the retailer operates. (Massachusetts had more than $2 billion in total CBD sales in 2021, according to the state.) The acquisition also marks the fourth state in which Cresco Lab operates where it has opened the maximum number of retail stores legally permitted. Also in 2021, Cresco Labs opened retail locations in Pennsylvania with the acquisition of Bay, LLC d/b/a Cure Pennsylvania (Cure Penn) with three dispensaries in Lancaster, Phoenixville and Philadelphia and Laurel Harvest Labs with dispensaries in Scranton and Montgomeryville. Pennsylvania is a top medical cannabis market with more than $4.8 billion in retail sales from 2018 to March 2022, according to state. As of the third quarter of 2022 according to BDSA, Cresco Labs has the top wholesale market share in Pennsylvania and the top flower and vapes branded portfolio in the state. Between the acquisition of Cure Penn and Laurel Harvest, Cresco Labs added four new operational stores and licenses for five incremental stores. Cresco Labs also already operated five existing Sunnyside dispensaries in Pennsylvania. By March 2022, Cresco Labs remodeled its acquired Massachusetts and Pennsylvania stores under the Sunnyside banner. Sunnyside currently operates in seven of Cresco Labs 10 markets, which include 56 Sunnyside stores in Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Massachusetts, Florida and Arizona. “We’re focused on building an optimal and efficient experience for our customers, leveraging a bright, welcoming atmosphere and passionate, knowledgeable staff to enhance interactions, connections and education,” Cory Rothschild, Cresco Labs’ national retail president, told Retail Leader Pro. “Our store’s aesthetic is enhanced with an e-commerce experience offering easy shopping and newly launched Sunnyside Rewards loyalty program, plus in-store digital screens and projections, QR code educational touchpoints and music to create a full-sensory experience and inviting culture for staff and customers. 'We have plans to continue expansion in 2023, and we are excited to continue winning over more patients through a combination of excellent service, approachable prices and top-quality products," he added. Sunnyside strives to meet consumers wherever they are on their cannabis journey through education and support from knowledgeable wellness advisors in-store and online. With the goal to offer a more professional retail experience that combines high-end design and health care, Sunnyside hopes to elevate the value dispensaries can add to a local community through a bright, welcoming aesthetic and convenient experience, whether shopping online, in-store or through delivery where available. According to the retailer, Sunnyside stores offer one of the largest selections of cannabis products on the market — including premium flower, vapes, edibles, concentrates and topical products. Additionally, purchases from Sunnyside help support the SEED initiative, which collaborates with universities to develop cannabis-focused curriculum and works with local agencies and community organizations to sponsor expungement events. Highlighting Sunnyside’s welcoming, convenient and wellness environment, the Sunnyside store, located in Worcester, Massachusetts, originally opened in 2021 on the corner of a newly built free-standing commercial structure with four individual retail tenants. Sunnyside Worcester holds 2,684 square-feet of retail space. With the full height of the interior space at 15 feet, suspended LED lights hang from the painted, exposed industrial ceiling and walls were finished with Hickory veneer wood paneling. The industrial feel continues with polished concrete floors. Use of simple materials, such as concrete, wood and metal were used to create an environment that is approachable, yet through the detailing, sophisticated and professional. The spacious single-room retail environment includes counters framed with the same Hickory veneer to maintain consistency. As a more inclusive solution, all of the counters were designed to be Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant. The store houses custom-designed display cases with interior lighting and translucent safety glass with pullout drawers. Metal planters with a black matte finish hold live plants and custom designed shelving units, showcasing black plumbing pipes, also feature living plants mixed with products on display. For the exterior, identifiable visual cues were created with a color block and a mixture of textures. A bank of windows defines the lower register. Horizontal concrete structural elements are painted gray. The entrance is also defined by a canopy framed in metal fascia and a steel column with a background of aluminum siding on the façade from ground to canopy. The entrance canopy also houses suspended outdoor heaters to accommodate customers during the security and identification checkpoint. This year, the expansion of Sunnyside continues with a new store added in Florida, Sunnyside’s 22nd dispensary in the state. Cresco Labs’ CEO and Co-Founder Charles Bachtell, said in a release, that the retailer has plans to continue expanding in 2023. What’s next: In-store product display techniques used by cannabis brands could easily translate to other over-the-counter products and beauty brands in the future, especially in the pharmacy and drug sector of retail, or in specialty natural and health grocers.

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