Long before the legal, adult-use cannabis industry took hold in Los Angeles, Sweet Flower opened its doors in 2006 as one of the first medical dispensaries in the city.
The native New Zealander visited a dispensary himself for the first time four years ago, but was disappointed in the shopping experience.
Together, they reorganized, rebranded and then opened Sweet Flower’s new, adult-use concept on Melrose in April of 2019 and expanded the original Studio City location with a grand reopening later that same month.
“We have been bootstrapped to date, but as we continued to expand, and with increasing tailwinds in California , we saw the opportunity to expand again,” Dodd, now Sweet Flower CEO, noted.
Under its “Sweet Flower Shares” community investment initiative, over $175,000 in donations have been directly distributed to local community organizations in Los Angeles including the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, Poverello House, Central Valley Community Health and multiple nonprofits in Culver City, where Dodd was awarded the 2019 President’s Award from the chamber of commerce for his work.
Currently, the following brands are highlighted in each store through a section for companies owned by people of color: Acqua de Flor, Ball Family Farms, Biko, Calexo, Congo Club, Cronja, El Blunto, KGB Reserve, La Familia, Leisure Trees, Lifted Legacy, Potli, Pure Beauty, Saucey, SF Roots, Sundae School, Timeless and Viola.
While the list of celebrities cashing in on cannabis with their own brands grows, Sweet Flower has drawn stars into its stores to simply shop — and often get spotted on their way out.
“Every partnership we have done to date has been extremely organic,” shared Anvaripour.
The company will also continue to build on its delivery service, a highly profitable arm of the brand developed in-house.
I hold a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Colorado Boulder and also produced the documentary “Rolling Papers,” which follows Colorado’s historic first year of adult-use cannabis .