Oregon dispensary takes cues from Northwestern design staples for a modern and familiar setting
By Patrick Wagner
BEND, Ore. — Like the high-end coffee shops throughout the Pacific Northwest, Nick Harsell wants to provide a deeper experience for patrons of his dispensary and recreational store, High Grade Organics.
Harsell said his goal is “to provide an experience for someone, to create that feeling like a brewery or a coffee shop that has locally grown, organic cannabis taking it to that connoisseur level of understanding.”
Harsell compares cannabis to coffee with a passion, explaining how the various espressos, roasts and preparation methods all provide different experiences, much in the same way different strains and consumption methods provide unique effects.
“That’s where my passion comes in with the terpenes — understanding the aroma,” Harsell said. “What causes this? Why are you attracted to this smell? How does it make you feel?”
Harsell has been remodeling High Grade Organics to cater to the new business from Oregon’s recreational sales, which were set to begin Oct. 1. The business owner has hired new budtenders and expanded his business to compete in the dense Oregon market. Many business owners would consider these growing pains a stress, but Harsell seems overjoyed at the opportunities that lie ahead.
“I am anticipating that pre-rolls are going to be a huge thing,” he said. “For tourists or for people who want something quick and easy, something ready to go.”
High Grade Organics redesigned its sales floor to allow for heavier foot traffic and more opportunities to educate the curious.
Harsell has gone through painstaking efforts to keep the dispensary perfectly imperfect.
Using the concrete floors and wood beams above, Harsell embraces the industrial elements that are at home in the Northwest. He dismantled and repurposed the wood from more than 80 pallets for the walls and displays, and made the interior a mixture of influences while retaining a clinically clean atmosphere.
“I wanted it to feel similar to a coffee shop,” Harsell said. His inspiration comes from “the trend we have in the Northwest of having an industrial modern feel, but simple and clean. Creating that balanced feel of that rustic interior, but it’s not dirty, it creates that feeling that it’s been through a lot. It has character.”