Denver, Colorado
Colorado chain’s Denver Airport store greets nearly 20,000 monthly visitors
The old adage in real estate is location, location, location, and nowhere is that more important than it is for retail businesses. In the cannabis space, the idea that “weed sells itself” is quickly being replaced by an ultra-competitive business in which every advantage matters, and those companies set up with a location to drive traffic — and handle that flow of customers — are the ones set up for success.
By Brian Beckley, Garrett Rudolph and Patrick Wagner
Denver International Airport is the third busiest airport in the United States, seeing approximately 58.8 million passengers during 2021, and Native Roots’ Tower Road store is its closest cannabis retailer, located just eight minutes from the bustling transit hub.
“We see a little under 20,000 people a month at that location,” says Buck Dutton, vice president of marketing for Native Roots. “Our airport store is nearly constantly busy. The only time we saw a dip in traffic was during the pandemic.”
Dutton says the Tower Road store often competes with the company’s Littleton location in South Denver for the title of highest-grossing location in the 20-store retail chain.
“Our Littleton store is No. 1. It’s kind of a suburban, older store with a very established demographic, but the Tower Road store beats them sometimes,” Dutton says. “So overall, Tower is No. 2, but there’s a lot of development going on at the airport and we’re starting to see a lot more local traffic.”
The company made quite an investment in rebranding the location to match the aesthetic of the other stores in the chain. Native Roots’ green-and-black palette helps the store stand out among the more neutral hotels and chain restaurants in the area, and the building’s architecture, reminiscent of an old airplane hangar, makes the store feel like it’s part of the area’s aviation past. But even with the polished design and the area seeing new residential developments, the store’s biggest advantage is simply its proximity to and easy access from the Denver International Airport.
“We see a lot of people that fly into Denver and make Native Roots their first stop,” Dutton says.