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Placing Bets on the Future of Cannabis: Why convenience still stands as the best option for marijuana sales ... someday

Writer's picture: Melissa Vonder HaarMelissa Vonder Haar

By Melissa Vonder Haar

Originally appeared in CSP Magazine, June 2023



In the middle of working on this year’s annual “Behind the Counter” supplement, my family took a vacation to Colorado. We’d found a beautiful rental house that had everything we could possibly need: plenty of bedrooms, a trampoline and playground for the kids, a hot tub with mountain views for the adults, even an indoor rock-climbing wall. The one downside? The nearest grocery store was 30 minutes away.

 

Naturally, my five-year-old came down with a stomach bug. We were visiting friends in Denver when the symptoms hit, necessitating a quick exit and the need to stop for provisions like apples and toast on our way home. While grocery stores aren’t exactly clearly marked on the freeway, convenience stores were abundantly labeled as we cruised down I-470.

 

Though my husband expressed skepticism that we could pick up groceries and produce from a c-store, he’s learned not to question my knowledge on such matters. Sure enough, within three minutes of pulling into a 7-Eleven, he emerged with sliced apples, white bread…and pink pineapple. Why? “I just couldn’t believe I could buy pink pineapple at 7-Eleven,” he marveled.

 

Aside from the pink pineapple, this experience pretty much sums up how I’d define today’s convenience stores: they have what you need, where you need it.

 

What’s Needed (and Wanted) Behind the Counter

 

Those of you who have spoken with me over the years have probably heard my spiel on why I firmly believe cannabis products, including marijuana, will end up in convenience backbar sets: no mainstream retail channel does better with age verification, our CPG partners are almost certainly going to get into this space once its federally legalized and (I’m betting) would prefer to do business with established and trusted retail partners, and there’s a significant overlap with our existing consumers.

 

But ultimately, it’s that notion of “what you need (or in this case, perhaps, want) where you need it” that truly marks the opportunity for behind the counter cannabis. After all, on that same Colorado trip, my husband had to drive 90 minutes round trip to purchase cannabis products. It was the products he wanted, but nowhere near where he needed them (and that’s in a state where marijuana has been legal for over ten years!).

 

The backbar space has already evolved many times to address the changing need states of our consumers. Twenty years ago, nobody would have expected to find battery-based products in a tobacco set—yet as some smokers embraced electronic cigarette and vapor product innovations, the backbar evolved to include them. And while spitless tobacco has been around in some form since the 15th century, it wasn’t a huge part of most retailers’ tobacco section until the advent of modern oral nicotine products. Now, it’s a segment that retailers are listing as one of the most exciting parts of behind the counter.

 

While hemp-based cannabis and other alternative products like kratom are included in some of this year’s coverage, it’s admittedly not much. Between the legally gray area some of these products operate in and the lack of quality data, it’s tough to cover. But I don’t think I need to convince most anyone in the behind the counter space that cannabis and marijuana products will eventually have a place there. For many, it’s a matter of when, not if—namely when will the regulations catch up to meet consumers’ need for the products they want, where they want them.   

 

I know oftentimes that wait feels endless (especially when regulators are involved). But if the “gas, Cokes and smokes” convenience stores of my childhood can evolve to a place where seasonal pink pineapple can be found, I’m betting that by the time my five-year-old turns 21, he’ll be able to get his cannabis product of choice at 7-Eleven too.

 

Any takers on that bet?

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