---
title: "Beyond THC Percentages: Designing the Cannabis Retail Experience"
description: Cannabis investor Emily Paxhia reveals how dispensaries can win with clarity, curation, and intentional in-store experiences.
---

[SparkPlug's Employee Incentive Blog | SparkPlug ](https://sparkplug.app/blog)

# [Beyond THC Percentages: Designing the Cannabis Retail Experience](https://sparkplug.app/blog/beyond-thc-percentages-designing-the-cannabis-retail-experience)

 Written by [SparkPlug](https://sparkplug.app/blog/author/sparkplug) | Jul 17, 2025 6:19:02 PM

*What Emily Paxhia Wants Every Dispensary Operator to Understand*

> *“Retail is more than just shelves and SKU counts.”**  
> * — *High Touch* podcast

The dispensary floor is one of the most overlooked battlegrounds in cannabis. While brands spend millions refining product formulas and visuals, **retail is still playing catch-up** — stuck between regulatory handcuffs and copy-paste “Apple Store” tropes.

But if you ask longtime cannabis investor **Emily Paxhia**, that’s where the biggest opportunity lives.

On the latest episode of [*High Touch*](https://www.hightouchpod.com), Emily shares what retailers can learn from wine tasting rooms, the rise of Napa Valley, and her own portfolio of cannabis brands. Her message? **Product alone isn’t enough. You need a point of view.**

### **What a Great Retail Experience Actually Feels Like**

> *“Some stores try to be medical. Some go for a farmer’s market feel. Others want to feel high-tech. That’s fine — as long as it’s intentional.”*

According to Emily, customers don’t need every store to look the same. What they need is **clarity**. When a customer walks in, they should know what the store stands for — and feel emotionally aligned with it.

She cites examples like:

- **The Travel Agency (NYC)**: A dispensary with vintage airline branding, complete with boarding pass promotions and a cheeky passport check at the door.
- **Sunburn (FL)**: A vertically integrated retailer with a brand story rooted in legacy cannabis culture — complete with newspaper clippings on the walls and DEA case references on receipts.

These aren’t gimmicks. They’re expressions of identity — and they deepen the customer’s emotional connection.

### **Familiarity Wins: Why “Apple Store” Vibes Still Work (Sometimes)**

Emily isn’t totally against sleek, tech-forward dispensaries. In fact, she recognizes that **familiar formats reduce friction**.

> *“There’s a psychological comfort in spaces that feel familiar. If your store feels like Whole Foods or Sephora or Wegmans — that can be a win, too.”*

The key is to be **deliberate**, not derivative. What’s deadly is trying to be everything to everyone. The best cannabis retailers **curate the experience**, not just the menu.

### **Budtenders as the New Sommeliers**

One of the most powerful analogies Emily draws is between cannabis dispensaries and **wine tasting rooms**.

Just as sommeliers or bottle shop clerks guide customers beyond cabernets and oaky chardonnays, **budtenders are the conduit** to discovering the nuances of cannabis — if they’re trained well.

> *“We need budtenders to be educators. They help expand the customer’s palate. It’s not just indica/sativa — it’s terpenes, effects, intent.”*

This is where Emily sees massive potential for tools and platforms (like SparkPlug) that **equip frontline staff with confidence, context, and conversation skills**.

### **Designing for Intention, Not Just Access**

In too many dispensaries, the in-store journey still feels sterile or chaotic. A customer might be overwhelmed by SKUs, underwhelmed by signage, or lost in a sea of sameness.

Emily’s advice? Use **retail to help the customer frame the experience**. That means:

- Categorizing products by need state (sleep, creativity, focus)
- Merchandising with purpose
- Curating the menu based on local preferences, not just trends
- Creating space for questions, conversations, and stories

> *“Help people understand themselves through what you sell. That’s when a retail experience becomes transformative.”*

### **Retail is Brand, Too**

For a long time, cannabis retail has been treated like infrastructure — just a space to transact. But in a regulated environment where marketing is limited, **retail is often the *****only***** place you can actually deliver your brand.**

The floor. The fixtures. The staff. The vibe. It all matters.

And as Emily puts it:

> *“This industry is hard. But what we’re building can be fun, too. Retailers have to remind people of that.”*

[🎧 Listen to the full conversation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpxjoyHbk9s)**  
** with Emily Paxhia on *[High Touch](https://www.hightouchpod.com), *now streaming on all major platforms.

[View full post](https://sparkplug.app/blog/beyond-thc-percentages-designing-the-cannabis-retail-experience)

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