Jushi Holdings Inc., a multi-state operator and license holder to trade, grow and process cannabis headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, announce Opening of its 26th store nationwide and its second for retail location BEYOND/HELLO in Sterling, Virginia.
BEYOND/HELLO Sterling will serve registered agents and medical cannabis patients and provide them with “an effective, safe, and accessible experience that goes beyond the traditional cannabis trading environment,” according to a recent report. press release.
© Courtesy of Jushi
Here, Brendon Lynch, Jushi’s executive vice president of retail, shares insight into the company’s expansion and what consumers can expect, as well as a glimpse into Jushi’s plan for when adult products are sold online in Virginia.
Andriana Rossetto: Can you talk a little bit about Jushi’s opening of her second BEYOND/HELLO retail location in Virginia and the different features the dispensary will have?
Brendon Lynch: So, we opened our second location in Northern Virginia last week, and Medical Virginia patients can expect a typical customer-focused retail experience BEYOND/HELLO, along with online ordering through after hello.com Convenient express delivery within the store. Also, due to increased demand, as well as improved accessibility for Northern Virginia patients, we have expanded our delivery program to be at the Stirling location. [and] Manassas website.
Stirling operates from an 8,000 square foot anchor site in a newly constructed 16,000 square foot building. [It] He brings to Virginia patients our selection of high-quality brands, including The Lab, Tasteology and most recently our two in-house floral brands: The Bank and Sèche.
The location is very different from our location in Manassas. It’s more typical of our current design, and it’s also much larger than that. So, as I mentioned, it’s 8000 square feet, which is much larger than Manassas, and [it] It has 17 point-of-sale systems, 70 on-site parking spaces and a separate delivery service area. It is located approximately 7 miles from Dulles International Airport and 30 miles from Washington [D.C.], which is adjacent to Wegmans, Lowe’s, McDonald’s, and Burger King on a very high-traffic highway that merges with Interstate 50.
AR: What drove Joshi to the Virginia market?
BL: It wasn’t on many cannabis companies’ radars in 2019 when we made the decision to go to Virginia. Really due to the limited nature of the medical program, specifically the ability to only open one store at the time per HSA [health service area] Then the THC caps on the products; However, our initial interest in the Commonwealth was due to it being a medical marketplace with very limited licensing, retail exclusivity, the ability to wholesale and delivery throughout the entire Commonwealth, and the expectation that each licensee would eventually be able to add more stores, and that cap restrictions This THC will be gone, which they did.
English: What is the company looking forward to as it expands?
BL: Regulators divide the state into separate geographic areas called HSAs, with one license integrated vertically for each HSA. Each permit holder is required to be vertically integrated, meaning that cultivation, extraction, processing and retail are all within the same facility. Then in addition, each permit holder was given the option to add an additional five dispensaries to each of the six locations within the designated HSA in addition to delivery in and out of the HSA.
Therefore, our license allows us to serve patients in all countries [the] Hayel Saeed Anam exclusively. Therefore, no one else can serve patients in this HSA. Once again, HSA is located in Northern Virginia…and it only includes some really popular neighborhoods, like Arlington, Tyson’s Corner, Alexandria, and Manassas. Therefore, it gives us this opportunity to serve a large type of population that is dynamic and large, as well as a large population. I mean, there are 2.5 million people in this HSA, which is [about] 30% of the total population [in Virginia].
Demographics is a great demographic and also a really fit demographic for Joshi. It is the highest income per capita, average life [is] At 37 years old, it is home to five of Virginia’s 10 richest neighborhoods, has a high number of commuters, and [has] A very kind of tech-savvy millennial customer [base] That’s where we see a lot of early adopters of cannabis.
English: How does Jushi plan to expand delivery services at its second BEYOND/HELLO retail location in Virginia to meet consumer demand?
BL: We launched and led the delivery program in Manassas [in the] The beginning of the half of this year, the [we] I learned a lot about what patients were looking for in terms of where to go, how fast to get there, and what the process should look like. The team did a really good job improving the process and making the order process [and the] The implementation process is kind of really intuitive. Therefore, the patient places the order online through our Beyondhello.com sites. They can select a two-hour delivery window, receive SMS confirmation, view tracking and routing details, and finally receive a notification [of] When the driver is there.
As expected, I mean, it’s only been a week of work, but the percentage of our daily and weekly business coming in from delivery is more than double what we saw in Manassas, which makes sense. that it [a] Highly populated [area]There are a lot of commercial activities nearby. But we are very pleased to see that the program has been improved, and I think it is from a patient’s point of view [it’s] Very intuitive and friendly. Adoption seems to be more important, which again I think makes sense for this area and also for the tech-savvy client [living] in the Northern Virginia region.
English: What opportunities does this expansion provide for Jushi?
BL: I think we’ve seen some kind of really positive OD over the past year or so. With the development of the medical program, we saw a flower being approved for medical sales in September of this year, and expectations are that approval for adult use on January 1, 2024. It is one of the fastest, if not the fastest, market to adopt a medical program and pass adult use legislation. Our current program has approximately 35,000 patients, and is growing to about a thousand patients per week. As I mentioned, license holders were initially only allowed to operate one dispensary of the vertically integrated processing facility within the HSA, and [the] The program now allows us to have five additional sites, Stirling is our first of those five, we have plans for three more sites and are looking for that fourth site.
The THC cap has been raised, as you mentioned, by 5% to now 10mg of THC per dose, with no restrictions on dosage. I think with adult use [expected to start] No later than January 2024, Virginia represents a very limited licensing market with a very reliable large market supplied by the Commonwealth to be in the millions of dollars. So, I think given the very limited licensing structure, the people, the demographics, and a very progressive medical market, the expansion is a huge opportunity for Joshi.
AR: Now that Jushi has opened its second BEYOND/HELLO retail location in Virginia, does the company plan to expand those locations for adult use when sales begin in the state?
BL: defy. We’re positioning ourselves now and preparing for that, really in all respects. So, when that happens, we can open the doors to all patients and clients in Northern Virginia.
AR: What kind of challenges do you think Jushi might face when moving into selling adult cannabis in his Virginia locations? How is the company preparing to overcome these challenges?
BL: First of all, this has been something we’ve been talking about quite a bit about, not just for Virginia but also for Pennsylvania, which is looming as well. I think from a store standpoint, and it’s my point of view, we’re thinking a lot about staffing and making sure that the teams that we have now are the teams that will be able to convert us to adult use and also keep up with that huge increase in volume and number of customers and patients that we’re seeing every day.
Secondly, [is] How do we run clinics? We need to make sure that we can operate in a way that we can focus literally overnight to be ready for this increase in scale – so keep looking at efficiencies through how the business is run.
I think the third piece is the stock, and the returns double back on the first day. We need to make sure that we are in a position where we actually have the product for our customers and patients.
AR: I noted in a press release that this retail location opening is the company’s second of six dispensaries to open in Virginia. Does Jushi plan to open four additional locations under the state’s medical or adult use market?
BL: So we have four more sites to go to, for now at least, and we’ve identified three of those and are working on the fourth. Obviously, it’s all within the HSA region, Northern Virginia. Our plan is to open three, maybe even these four, next year. And at this point, unless adult use goes ahead, which we don’t expect or have any reason to expect, they’ll all open up under medical treatment, soon afterwards switch to adult use. With that in mind, I think this goes back to your last question as well. The other thing we’ve been thinking, and you’ll see in Stirling, and you’ll definitely see in our next few locations, is that we’re now designing these stores to function as entertainment stores.
© Courtesy of Jushi
AR: How does Jushi plan to differentiate itself in the Virginia market as it continues to expand?
BL: One [is] our product. You mentioned that we have a high quality portfolio of brands at the moment…so we will continue to develop and create best in class products. Second will be the stores. We design these stores not only to reflect the brand and the communities we live in but also to be able to meet the needs of our customers. So, again, quite a few of our customers, nearly two-thirds, have started their online experience and ordering online. Most of these customers again want a really fast and efficient experience.
So, we do this through the expression. We do this by pickup on the sidewalk. We do that through delivery, sure. But, even then, we design the stores and orchestrate the experience to still be immersed in the brand. Even if they want to get in and out quickly in five minutes, give them something special so they can still savor the full taste of the brands in those five minutes. And then for the other third of customers who want something more immersive or want a little more education or maybe are new to cannabis, we’re building the inside of the stores and the sales floors to be very interactive and very focused on the show and very educational, both in terms of the technology that we’re using, but also definitely of Where are the people who run stores.
Editor’s note: This interview has been modified for style, length, and clarity.
