For the record, this Calgary-based company is selling cannabis through music

Cannabis and music have come together like never before, all thanks to an innovative retail concept by Calgary-based company Westleaf Cannabis Inc.

 

 

Picture this: It’s Friday night, and a bit of soothing reflection would really top things off. With music in mind, you walk into a neighbourhood record-cum-cannabis store.

Helpfully, the store offers some guidance on the tracks available: “Lullabies”, “I Want to Dance with Somebody,” and “Wake Me Up Before You GoGo.” After an exhausting week, Lullabies sounds like the right fit. Flipping through the music collection, you come across a record that’s a perfect match.

Walking to the counter to make a purchase, the cashier takes away the record sleeve and, in exchange, hands back… not the record, but its miniature version, and also a cannabis product, the strain’s profile matching the description of the selected music label.

Wondering what’s going on? Well, that, in a nutshell, is the retail experience one can expect at Prairie Records, a national retail footprint of Westleaf Cannabis Inc.

A cannabis experience one can see, smell and listen to

 Prairie Records, in the words of Adam Coates, Westleaf’s chief commercial officer, is “a record shop that doesn’t sell music.”

Instead, what the company expertly aims to market is premium cannabis products to consumers between the ages of 25 and -35 by seamlessly binding their cannabis purchasing experience through music.

Having already secured partnerships with Tilray, VIVO Cannabis, and Delta 9 Cannabis, the first Prairie Records store (pictured above) opened shop on Feb. 4 in Warman, Sask.

“The idea of going into a store, queuing up, looking up at the signage that can be confusing and overwhelming, and then feeling pressured to buy as you are up on the queue… that’s not great customer experience,” says Coates, who prior to Westleaf, was the vice president of specialty sales at Labatt Breweries of Canada.

For a product that’s unknown, or at least not ingrained, to many consumers, as specific brands of alcohol, beer, wine and spirits often are, the team aims to provide an environment that’s comfortable and unique, while also fostering education and discovery. The concept of the album covers allows the company to legally navigate the restrictive packaging guidelines, but still provide adequate information to consumers.

“We’ve actually put a lot of thought into the kind of music we’ll be playing at the stores at different times,” says Coates, referencing the aforementioned three genres. Organizing the store not by mood or cannabis strains, but by music type, the team is also creating its own Spotify channel, the playlist for which will be put on the miniature record covers that consumers can take with them. “When customers leave the store with the smaller version of the label, we’ll be curating the music that can go along with the type of experience that, when consumed, the product is expected to deliver,” explains Coates.

Prior to Westleaf, Adam Coates was the vice president of specialty sales at Labatt Breweries of Canada.

There will also be in-store featured products, and a featured music wall, where instead of the favourite artist, a strain or brand of cannabis will be highlighted. “Then we’ll have a sensory jar, where they can actually smell and see what the real product will be like,” adds Coates.

 Maintaining that people will automatically relate to the retail concept combining cannabis and music, Coates shares an anecdote. “We were at the University of Calgary career fair late in Jan. and we were talking to university students, who fall within the legal consumption age, and professors, parents and administrators. The reaction, despite the age difference, was quite similar. They had different anchor points in terms of what kind of music they actually bonded with, but our concept of retail, what the stores will look like and having the actual ritual of the record covers with all the cannabis strains on them, was well-understood.”

Building a communal experience

With Prairie Records, it’s the tactile experience of flipping records that aims to put the customer at ease. “What’s really great is that as you are flipping through a record of different strains of brands of cannabis that we offer at our store, there’s an opportunity to have a potential interaction and socialization between customers,” says Coates. Since there are also going to be first-time customers, creating such as environment, Coates maintains, is a great foundation to build a loyal customer base. “Everybody has a relationship with music and I think that’s a great way to connect a whole host of demographics,” he adds.

The company expertly aims to market is premium cannabis products to consumers between the ages of 25 and -35 by seamlessly binding their cannabis purchasing experience through music.

Having already secured partnerships with Tilray, VIVO Cannabis, and Delta 9 Cannabis, the first Prairie Records store opened shop on Feb. 4 in Warman, Sask. The company has set its sights on opening 23 other stores across the country by year’s end.