Cannabis in Vegas 2022

LAS VEGAS – Nevada’s cannabis industry experienced an incredible year in 2021, which saw the announcement of cannabis sales reaching $1 billion in a 12-month period. As the industry continues to grow and evolve, Deep Roots Harvest COO Jon Marshall offered his assessment of what the top stories for the industry will be in Nevada throughout 2022.

Ongoing growth of Nevada’s cannabis industry

Buoyed by the mass return of international traveling, as well as increased domestic tourism, Nevada cannabis sales will continue to increase in 2022. Tourism officials expect travel to Las Vegas and other parts of the state to robustly return as more people feel comfortable traveling in a post-pandemic environment and more conferences return to full capacity. On the heels of the news that Nevada cannabis sales topped $1 billion in FY 2021, optimism reigns on growth of the state’s industry.

“As public safety concerns continue to diminish and vaccination rates increase, we expect that travel to the state will continue to increase as it did in 2021, and that travel within the state will increase as well. This should only be positive for cannabis sales in the coming months,” said Jon Marshall, chief operating officer of Deep Roots Harvest. “Whether visitors are coming from states with a regulated cannabis market or not, a visit to a dispensary is very often a top item of their ‘to do’ list during their stay in Nevada. The more tourists we see in the state, the more customers cannabis companies will see in their stores.”

Nevada’s evolving cannabis retail environment

When consumers visit a Nevada dispensary in 2022, they will increasingly find themselves in a completely different retail environment than what was first created for the state’s medical market. Nevada dispensaries have begun to refashion themselves for the future, creating retail locations that more closely resemble traditional retail environments. The idea is to attract more customers by providing retail experiences that feel familiar to other industries, help provide the education consumers need and yet still feel credible for the medical-focused patient.

“In 2015, we were all geared toward the medical patient and were not engaged with building brands or very concerned with the patient experience. Stores were more clinical and focused on providing the right medicine rather than providing a branded, consumer experience,” Marshall said. “But today we are trying to create facilities to help reduce stigma, make our stores more accessible and feel more inviting to more people, helping to create a sense of comfort for those who may feel intimidated about walking into a dispensary. This normalization of the dispensary is a nationwide phenomenon. People want to feel secure and comfortable when they walk in to purchase cannabis, and they want to feel good about telling others about their experience.”

According to Marshall, this retail experience will also extend online for smart businesses in 2022 by the development of more user-friendly, easier-to-navigate websites that enable simple online ordering and fast in-store or at-the-curb pickup. Expect more dispensaries to be increasing their retail experience efforts in 2022 to meet these growing consumer expectations.

Ongoing post-pandemic adjustments will continue to impact industry

As in most every other industry, consistent challenges in the supply chain will continue to slow progress of new construction in the industry, which may create delays in the opening of new retail outlets or impact production of cannabis products or development of new grow facilities  within the state. Employee shortages that have plagued much of the United States service industry may also impact cannabis employers, though the industry has demonstrated an ability to appeal to employees in ways both financial and cultural in nature. Finally, the enforcement of a new regulation that prohibits delivering vaping products or machinery via the mail will impact the supply chain for those products in ways still yet to be determined.

“There are always myriad challenges in the cannabis space that other industries do not have to face, and that will continue in 2022,” Marshall said. “In some ways, for example where finding employees is concerned, the industry has a leg up on other industries and we’re attracting new talent to the segment all the time. But we are in the same boat for many of these other concerns like shipping delays and inability to get materials when you need them. We expect these will continue for the foreseeable future and the businesses that have learned how to plan ahead and make nimble adjustments when necessary will fare the best.”

Deep Roots Harvest will celebrate the opening of its fifth dispensary location, Deep Roots Blue Diamond at 3725 Blue Diamond Road, Las Vegas, NV 89139, with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday, Dec. 15, at 11:00am. The Blue Diamond location marks the third dispensary opened in 2021 with more locations planned for 2022. For more information about the ribbon cutting or to request press credentials, please contact Rebecca Taub at (973) 715-3994 or rebecca@themaverickpr.com.

About Deep Roots Harvest

With decades of experience from a team with a true passion for the plant, Deep Roots Harvest has been cultivating, processing, manufacturing and distributing high-quality cannabis products in Nevada since 2015. Utilizing a state-of-the-art cultivation facility and premium extraction processes, Deep Roots cultivates premium strains and products distributed at a wide variety of retailers throughout the state, including a growing list of Deep Roots Harvest’s own dispensary locations across Nevada. For more information, visit DeepRootsHarvest.com. Continue the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.