CASE STUDY ■ BY ATHENA MCKENZIE ■ PHOTOS BY JEFFREY BOSDET
THE CANNABIS INDUSTRY MEETS HIGH DESIGN With its new flagship dispensary in the downtown core, FARM challenges the stereotype of the pot shop
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ITH ITS ELEGANT LIGHT FIXTURES, terrazzo-inspired flooring and sophisticated tile work, customers of the new FARM dispensary on Douglas Street might feel like they’ve entered a high-end café or wine shop — and that’s completely intentional. “For a certain demographic, they don’t feel like they’re in a cannabis store and that makes it much easier,” says FARM co-founder Allen Spillette. “That’s really what we’re trying to accomplish: to take away the stereotypes and to have it like any other well-run business in the city.”
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION To achieve this goal, Spillette and co-founder Michael Supowitz purchased the historic building at 1402 Douglas Street, known as the Porter Block. Originally a butcher shop, R. Porter & Sons, the two-storey, brick-and-stone building was most recently home to the Aveda Institute.
CANNABIS HIGH-LIGHTS 20 DOUGLAS
CROWDSOURCING
StatsCannabis is Statistics Canada’s initiative to crowdsource cannabis prices across the country. Crowdsourced data from January 25 to May 30, 2018, shows the average price per gram in B.C. was $6.91.
59%
GLOBAL EXPORT
Canada sold just over $1 billion worth of cannabis products abroad in 2017. British Columbia accounted for 59 per cent of these sales.