We raffled all the buyers at Hall of Flowers who tapped into the power of our scheduling platform ENGAGElive, and we are happy to announce we have our winner! Thank you to every single retailer, brand, and retail partner who utilized this tool for the show in Santa Rosa in 2023. We look forward to expanding and fine-tuning the offering for future trade shows.
And the winners are…
Jason Mikel and Kayla Mikel of Garden State Nectar from San Luis Obispo. Congratulations on not only securing more capital for your business moving into the second half of 2023, but also for connecting on a stellar level with the brands on the Hall of Flowers trade show floor. We salute you.
We caught up with our friend and the buyer from Garden State Nectar, Jason Mikel, to see what his experience was like using the ENGAGElive platform, how many brands he’s met through Hall of Flowers over the years, and what his store is looking for this year.
Hall of Flowers: Tell us about your store. What’s your ethos as a retail and community?
Jason Mikel: We are a locally owned family business. My sister and I started this business together in 2016. We named our business Garden State Nectar after our long-lost brother who had passed away and lived in New Jersey. New Jersey’s state motto is “The Garden State.” We carry his spirit with us in our business as he was a huge cannabis advocate, for recreational cannabis in New Jersey. Kayla and I have grown up in San Luis Obispo County and continue to raise our next generation here. Our main goal is to provide excellent customer service while providing, quality cannabis at an affordable price to our customers. We truly feel blessed to live in a place that people come to for vacation. It also helps that my sis and I are also best friends.
What has been selling a lot in 2023? Trends or your personal highest sellers at your storefront.
Flower has always been our highest category of cannabis that we sell. We continue to try to educate consumers that THC percentages are not the most important aspect of cannabis flower. The best flower seller at our shop is the strain Green Crack by far. People love it and want more of it. I think the legacy strains are making a comeback: Blue Dream, Green Crack, Northern Lights, and OG Kush. These are the strains that consumers have been asking for and ordering when we have them in stock.
Congrats on winning the prize for buyers exclusively utilizing the HoF scheduling platform. How was the show experience? Did the scheduling help you make some potent connections?
We truly enjoyed the EngageLive portion of Hall of Flowers. We were actually able to visit more vendors than we usually do as we stuck to the scheduled 20-minute appointments. It definitely keeps you on track and focused. Especially if you have specific vendors in mind that you know that you want to meet with. The show was awesome and we had an amazing time. We actually met with Dime Industries through EngageLive and put in an order this last week with the rep we met through HoF.
What brands or products have you met through HoF over the years?
We have met so, so many brands through HoF. We would have never made the connection to these awesome companies without this convention. We have met Froot, Greenline, Elyon, Dime, Wyld, Kanha, and still to this day placing orders from these companies.
Are there certain items you’re looking for most as a buyer this year? Do you like to focus on consumer-favorite product SKUs like pre-rolls, drinkables, or concentrates?
We are always looking for quality cannabis products at an affordable price. I’m always amazed by the number of quality vendors that are at HoF. We usually know once we see a product if it will fit well into our menu. The great thing is if you are looking to fill a missing piece of your menu, you can always find a vendor at HoF.
Do you have shelf space for sun-grown, small-batch, craft brands?
Absolutely, we want to support the farmers the best we can. Being a farmer myself for 20 years, they are the heart of this industry. Consumers are becoming more aware of small-batch cannabis focusing on sustainability and environmental impacts.
What advice do you have for brands who want to stand out to you and to your consumers? How do new brands catch your attention?
Branding is really important. Consumers are becoming more aware of what effect they are looking to acquire by a product. Branding that has effect-based listings really helps budtenders and the consumer. Recently we have had an uptick among customers who are asking about terpenes. Two years ago, the consumer would only be asking about the THC percentage. Branding that also has this included helps us to educate the purchaser.
