Westleaf Inc. is Taking a Unique Approach to Retail with its Vinyl-Inspired Store, Prairie Records

An approach to cannabis retail that’s as inviting as it is differentiated from the rest.

From the instant you march through the door of Prairie Records in centrally-located Warman, the ninth-largest city in Saskatchewan and officially Canada's fastest growing municipality, you’re greeted by an approach to cannabis retail that’s as inviting as it is differentiated from the rest of today’s legal cannabis shops. And not just because it combines its storefront with a warehouse space for an e-commerce fulfillment centre. Instead of a characterless, sleek interior resembling any boutique at the mall, you’ll discover an aesthetic that invokes the feeling of a vintage vinyl shop, replete with music paraphernalia and curated playlists. Instead of potent indica and sativa strains kept under lock and key in brightly-lit glass cases, you’ll find them presented on record sleeves. Racks and shelves are stocked with these covers, only track listings and album credits have been swapped for information about formats and consumption methods and THC/CBD levels. You exchange them for actual product at the checkout counter. In the wake of legalization, the ‘cannabiz’ landscape will inevitably get crowded. To stand out, you need to be distinct. In the retail category particularly, you must provide the customer with an innovative experience that’s singular, approachable, and nothing short of truly engaging. "We're singing a different tune in cannabis retail as Prairie Records provides the customer with a truly differentiated and engaging in-store experience," says Adam Coates, Chief Commercial Officer at Westleaf Inc. Through tactile in-store features and product offerings that celebrate the instinctive relationship between music and cannabis, vertically integrated cannabis company Westleaf Inc. is demonstrating they clearly get it. Prairie Records is their retail concept, and Westleaf Inc. has plans to open over 50 stores across Western Canada by the end of 2020, with two stores in Saskatoon opening soon, and an ecommerce platform which will serve Saskatchewan. Seems the hits just keep on coming.