In an interview with CNBC, CEO of medical cannabis company MedMen Enterprises (Culver City, Calif.), Adam Bierman, spoke about the integral role brick-and-mortar retail will play in the cannabis business for the foreseeable future.
“Retail is the place to be because of the defensibility due to the zoning restrictions and the limited number of licenses,” Bierman said to CNBC. “I think retail is the permanent moat opportunity for this industry, and that's where we'll continue to be focused.”
MedMen is currently acquiring medical cannabis vendor PharmaCann in a $682 million all-stock takeover – the largest deal of its kind to date. Once the acquisition is complete, MedMen will operate 66 licensed retail stores and 13 factories across 12 states, namely California, Nevada and New York. The company’s stores are often regarded as “the Apple stores of weed.”