Cannabis lifestyle brand Wonderbrett has entered the retail business with the new flagship dispensary it opened in Hollywood. In 2019, it participated in the first wave of social equity applications. Wonderbrettwas granted a license last year and is one of the first many brands to get it through the Cannabis Social Equity Program.
Wonderbrettfounders Cameron Damwijk and Brett Feldman as well as LA nightlife entrepreneurs Mark Tung and David Judaken own the shop in the Hollywood neighborhood. Wonderbrett may have other accolades, but it is a distinctive achievement to be a retailer under the Los Angeles cannabis program.
Describing the program as chaotic, Feldman stated that it was tough to always know the activity in it. For Feldman, the program required submitting many forms, accessing the licensing portal through Los Angeles city, and having the forms signed. Nevertheless, Feldman would be willing to redo the whole thing if required in the future.
The past few years may have been slow and expensive business-wise, but Feldman stated that the effort was worthwhile. Feldman and his business partners spent money whenever they faced a new hurdle, and they acted with a leap of faith. They did not have a store previously, which meant that there was no proven cannabis business for them to brag about. It is still the case, so as for the business people, it has all been a roll of the dice. Nevertheless, they have a vision about what they are looking to attain and are attempting to achieve it.
As with any other Los Angeles-based social equity operator in its early stages, Wonderbrett paid $10,000 in monthly rent just to sit on the new location. Feldman stated that it was costly to try and get the business property, with searching for months before it possibly started to expend the financial resources. Feldman stated that starting the business location required searching for the property for months before a favorable opportunity even appeared, as it concerned social equity.
Wonderbrett has not envisioned itself as some big-money business as its prices show, but it had the scale required and partner Judaken’s real estate background to realize the effort. As for Feldman, Judaken is an asset to the business enterprise, thanks to his real estate savviness as well as the fact that he could negotiate agreements and handle places appropriately. Without Judaken’s set of skills, finding the property would have been more difficult for Feldman and the other partners.
Judaken also aided them in growing to their present operation with 36 cannabis flowering rooms, each with a light. There are also cannabis veg rooms for the location, with the plant cloning and processing spaces to boot. Even the room to use for taking a clone out of a cannabis plant in their farm is a massive operational space.
The business people are attempting to run the farm with the expectation of loading four rooms per week. Feldman stated that such expectations exist so that they could help to produce the newest quality product consistently and frequently. The motto of the business team is freshness, and they have already made so much progress that they are almost sure to achieve it.
LA Weekly asked some of them about the refining they did to the vision for the dispensary over the past few years. They again said that while Judaken turned out to be the key here, things have briefly been the same.
As for Feldman, David Dakin has not only amazing architectural and design skills but also great real estate taste. When it came to how they envisioned the location to look, Feldman and the other partners aligned their interests with those of Dakin. The businessmen wanted quality with regards to the feel for their brand as well as a location that would make people from any place visit it.
The business people worked on a vision including the following.
- A-frame-style skylights that complement a hand-pounded metal lighting fixture-covered ceiling with Edison light bulbs
- Hand-hewn beams of oak
- Herringbone wood flooring with a textured pattern
The location also has what the businessmen describe as an Instagram wall covered in an LED screen. They said that it may seem less classy than all the other stuff in the store, but it is cool as well.
Feldman highlighted the fact that their digital renderings from 2019 are the same as what the shop looks like today. The fact that Wonderbrett already has a presence among consumers, unlike several other retailers, is what it has to its advantage. That means there is an extra set of individuals who will consider it a shopping destination for an item they are already aware of. The cool-looking store only adds to that factor.
LA Weekly asked Feldman about the usefulness of already having the following when he and the other partners experiment with the new enterprise. Feldman found it a blessing, and he added that they wanted to have a store like this for more than 15 years. Feldman and his Wonderbrett partner Damwijk did everything possible to try and enter the dispensary space at an indefinite time. As for Feldman, the long wait was the universe telling them that they were unprepared for it, and whatever they underwent only led them to that prepared stage.
Now, what if Damwijk and Feldman had committed to starting the business sooner, or during the rise of Wonderbrett? For Feldman, in that case, they would have lacked the amazing opportunity, brand strength and timing they now have to leverage.
Feldman claimed that they now have such a big flagship cannabis store that they could drive experiences. Creating an experience and a one-of-a-kind shopping environment is part of what Feldman and his partners are seeking to do through the location.
Damwijk and Feldman are proud of their team, especially their work to take Wonderbrett off to a cracking start ever since they opened the location. They directed that sentiment at everyone part of their team, including the doorman.