Pot chain banishes stoner stereotypes
The Ottawa company that plans to convert some Second Cup coffee stores into pot shops has provided a peek at what customers in Western Canada can expect when they stroll in to buy their legal weed.
An artist rendering of the shops depicts a cool, uncluttered space decorated in white with magenta accents and splashes of hot pink. Meta Cannabis Supply Company looks like any other boutique at the mall.
The store motto — “Life Uplifted” — is typical of the language being employed by Canadian cannabis companies that are creating lifestyle brands to appeal to recreational consumers. The message behind Meta is that cannabis can bring “positivity” into your life, said Matt Ryan, vice-president of marketing for National Access Cannabis (NAC), the Ottawa company behind the brand.
“It’s about inspiring artists. It’s about enhancing experiences with nature. It’s about helping anxiety, or pain or lack of sleep. Bringing positivity to people’s lives in this brand is what we are all about.”
The name Meta was selected because the word is “very much about the metaphysical,” said Ryan. “It’s about a higher state of consciousness. It also sounds really cool. It’s a nice four-letter word, very modern.”
So banish those stoner stereotypes. And don’t expect any tiedye-clad hippie to serve you at the counter, either. In the drawing, the clerk behind the “express bar” is simply dressed in a T-shirt and the customer appears to be 20-something. That reflects what might be the typical shopper, since people aged 18 to 24 have the highest rate of cannabis use, according to Statistics Canada.
The store features tablet stations where shoppers can research products before they make an order at the counter. That scenario will be typical in Canada’s pot shops. Federal government rules require products to be sold from behind the counter, in plain-ish packages plastered with health warnings.
Meta cannabis stores will be scattered across the western provinces, Ryan said. The exact number isn’t known yet, but NAC plans to be a dominant operator in all provinces that allow privately-run pot stores.
NAC already has a contract, in conjunction with several First Nations, to operate stores in Manitoba, has applied to operate stores in Alberta and Saskatchewan, and will do the same in B.C. as regulations allow. Some of the Meta stores will be conversions of Second Cup outlets, while others will be new storefronts.
In Ontario, pot shops will be run by a subsidiary of the LCBO.
The Ontario Cannabis Retail Corp. has not released any details about the interior design of the stores. The store logo is a simple black circle on a white background with the acronym OCS, for Ontario Cannabis Store, inside.
There will only be 40 stores across Ontario to start, increasing to 150 stores by 2020.
Recreational pot is expected to be made legal across the country this summer or fall.