Cannabis consumption is gaining traction, and retailers are now targeting luxury consumers with upscale marijuana experiences that may include lavish accessories, THC-infused drinks, and dispensaries. Heading to Fifth Avenue, along the same street as Cartier and Saks, is a dispensary offering pre-rolled, state-grown marijuana joints.
It has been almost four years since the Empire State legalized adult-use marijuana, and licensed cannabis sales have soared. Last year, New York’s licensed cannabis sales topped $100 million, and these legal cannabis pathways have picked up traffic in the luxury marijuana market.
The new Fifth Avenue resident, The Travel Agency, is an adult-use recreational marijuana dispensary that features more than just a lot of marijuana. The store’s interior is outfitted with white interiors, glass cabinetry, and a host of “budtenders,” while the dispensary’s exterior blends well with the chic storefronts of its neighbors and its sister locations in Union Square and Downtown Brooklyn.
All three of The Travel Agency’s locations opened within the past year and a half, with founder Paul Yao revealing that a fourth location is coming soon to one of New York City’s other high-end shopping areas, SoHo.
The founder shared that the average purchase at The Travel Agency includes two products, primarily gummies, marijuana flowers, or pre-rolls, which average around $80 to $90 a ticket. Shoppers can find a range of products that include $3.50 THC seltzers to flowers selling at $150 per ounce, and luxurious accessories are also available and can go for even higher prices.
While marijuana has become more recently legalized, shoppers have used marijuana long before it was legalized, what the industry refers to as the “legacy” customer base.
As The Travel Agency enters high-traffic and high-spending areas, the founder said that the dispensary is reaching the “canna-curious” with carefully curated offerings and architecturally appealing spaces that ease newcomers into the legal market.
“The 40-year-old female shopper is a really strong demographic, and that demographic is just emerging in New York,” Yau said, adding that the stores were designed with that kind of new shopper in mind. “When people came into our store, they knew immediately it wasn’t an illicit store.”
A female shopper, an advertising executive in New York, stated that the atmosphere of The Travel Agency and the staff keep her coming back for more. “You feel like you’re in a boutique,” she said.
Another company hoping to appeal to the “canna-curious” is THC seltzer company Cann, which aims to create better experiences for cannabis consumers who may have had adverse incidents in the past. Cann co-founders Jake Bullock and Yao believe marketing is the key to onboarding the canna-curious crowd.
Bullock stated that the THC seltzer company’s target audience is premium, largely millennial consumers, and its competition is alcohol.
Montauk Surf Lodge in New York requires a minimum of $3,000 for a one-night table. Guests can now purchase a hemp-derived version of Cann’s seltzers alongside other high-end liquors and rose.
Along with other Cann co-founder Luke Anderson, Bullock views the Montauk Surf Lodge partnership as an ideal introduction to their target audience – via the wealthy Hamptons crowd already indulging and spending big.
“It kind of has that very classic customer that Luke and I thought about the brand as fitting into their lives,” he said.
The Travel Agency founder Yao also stated that the company knows the target audience while working remotely near the Hamptons. “We think we’re still in the first inning of New York’s legal cannabis,” he said.
