Back in the days of cannabis prohibition, weed dealers worked in a seller’s market, following no rules but the law of supply and demand. Today, adult-use dispensaries operate out in the open but must adhere to the Vermont Cannabis Control Board’s numerous restrictions on marketing and promotions.
Many traditional retail sales techniques are verboten for this product, including offering free samples or inducements such as prizes and giveaways. Also prohibited are signs, toys, inflatables and cartoon characters that could appeal to minors. Outdoor sandwich boards are allowed but only if they display nothing more than the dispensary’s name, address, logo and hours of operation. And don’t get a cannabis retailer talking about online marketing or the board’s process for preapproving print ads unless you have plenty of time to kill.
Dispensaries that violate these rules can incur hefty fines or have their licenses suspended or even revoked.
Vermont is now a buyer’s market, where cannabis consumers can easily shop around for the lowest prices, especially in places rife with retail outlets. Rutland has six dispensaries and Burlington has 11, but neither is the state’s densest market per capita. That distinction belongs to Morrisville (population: 2,000), which has five dispensaries.
Faced with a crowded marketplace and narrow profit margins, dispensaries have gotten creative to edge out their competition and keep consumers coming back for more. After all, every pot shop claims it has the best service, widest selection and highest-quality products. But the ones that get repeat business have figured out ways to distinguish themselves, be it through customer loyalty programs, well-timed sales, targeted discounts or, for those located near the state’s borders, appeals to their customers’ sense of loyalty to Vermont.
Seven Daysies winner Bern Gallery Smoke Shop & Cannabis, which opened in 2004 as a smoke shop and glassblowing studio on Main Street in Burlington, had an established customer base when it launched its dispensary in 2022. But as other cannabis shops opened and started selling glassware, owner Tito Bern watched his smoke shop business get “decimated,” he said.
Shifting consumer consumption habits haven’t helped. As buyers transitioned from smoked flower to products such as edibles and vape cartridges, Bern has put more emphasis on marketing his own organically grown strains. He and his wife, Mikaela, have cultivated them for years for medical patients. Bern sells his organic weed elsewhere in Vermont, but in Burlington it’s available only at Bern Gallery.
“Being vertically integrated makes a huge difference,” he said, referring to ownership of every step of cannabis production from seed to spliff. “If your own weed is really good, you’re better off than the place next to you.”
A block away at True 802 Cannabis on the Church Street Marketplace, manager and budtender Tim Paquette explained how that dispensary brings customers back through a variety of shopper-retention incentives, such as a customer loyalty discount and 10 percent off for employees of Church Street businesses.
True 802 also sells flower deli-style, an increasingly popular method that lets customers buy buds by weight and mix and match different strains. The second-floor retailer also offers a range of pricing, from budget-conscious deals, such as $38 for an ounce of bud trimmings (a less valuable but potent by-product of cannabis processing) or half an ounce of smaller buds, or “smalls,” for $75, to premium strains that sell for $420 per ounce. Said Paquette, “We try to have the right product for everybody.”
In the dispensary-dense town of Morrisville, Best Buds co-owner Hannah Stearns regularly checks the menus of nearby dispensaries in order to choose products for her store that aren’t available elsewhere. And if there is overlap, she added, “it’s all about competitive pricing.”
“I, as an owner, spend a lot of time in the shop and build relationships with customers,” Stearns added. “It’s about being able to greet people by name and know what their regular order is.”
Best Buds also runs a monthly raffle in which customers can drop their receipts in a box for a chance to win a $50 store credit. All of Best Buds’ prices include Vermont’s 20 percent tax, an increasingly popular convenience for customers, given that all transactions must be conducted with cash or debit cards.
Fifteen minutes away in Johnson, Gordy Horner, co-owner of VT Green Castle Cannabis, markets his business by showcasing his family’s connection to the land. The 69-year-old worked at IBM for 45 years before opening a dispensary in 2024 on the site of his family’s 1950s homestead.
Horner’s father sold the vegetable stand and convenience store there in the late ’70s, he said. After he retired a few years ago, Horner bought back the property and set up greenhouses and a dispensary in the post-and-beam building that for years served as an antiques store — hence, the medieval suit of armor on display. He eventually plans to leave the business to his sons.
“We’ve kind of gone full circle,” he said of his family’s place in the cannabis ecosystem. “Dad grew in the ’50s, and we’re still growing now.”
Indeed, about 80 percent of Horner’s deli-style sales comes from products grown on-site. VT Green Castle also puts out a weekly email newsletter, called the Stash Report, that lists daily deals. At last count, Horner had about 500 people on the mailing list, including some who are regular out-of-state visitors to Stowe, Jay Peak and Smugglers’ Notch.
Marlena Tucker-Fishman, co-owner of Zenbarn Farms in Waterbury Center, considers her dispensary an extension of her own home, as reflected by her choice of language in the store.
“We don’t have ‘budtenders.’ We have ‘cannabis guides.’ And we have ‘guests,’ not ‘customers,’” she said. “A guest doesn’t need to be invited back once they’re welcomed.”
Zenbarn Farms, another Seven Daysies winner, runs daily sales, such as “Therapeutic Thursday,” which offers a 10 percent discount on beverages, edibles, tinctures and capsules. And, as Tucker-Fishman discovered by speaking to her “guests,” many work late at nearby restaurants and resorts, so she extended her evening hours on Fridays and Saturdays to 8 p.m.
Zenbarn Farms also capitalizes on visitors to its music and events venue, Zenbarn, offering them special discounts on the day of shows.
Through its loyalty program, Club Zen, members can earn up to $50 in store discounts. Vermonters who qualify for public assistance through Medicaid and those who use a Vermont EBT card can get additional savings at Zenbarn through an “Economic Ease” customer group. Once someone is in their system, Tucker-Fishman noted, there’s no need for them to show that card when they return.
“We get to know our guests as they come in,” she added, “so if we hear about their economic hardships, we’ll add that to their profile.”
Tucker-Fishman, who is also an owner of the Vermont Patient Alliance, a medical dispensary in Montpelier, got a medical endorsement for Zenbarn Farms. This allows both dispensaries to offer more potent strains to medical patients and do statewide deliveries. Said Tucker-Fishman, “If folks in the medical program can’t get to us, we’ll go to them.”
Scott Sparks, owner of Vermont Bud Barn in Brattleboro, faces a challenge that’s less of a concern for dispensaries in northern and central Vermont: His business is close to Massachusetts, home to many corporate dispensaries that mass-produce their weed in huge warehouses.
“They keep lowering the bar,” Sparks said. “It’s like a small mom-and-pop trying to compete with Walmart.”
To maintain his customer base, Sparks operates two other cannabis-related businesses on-site: Vermont Hempicurean, a producer and seller of CBD products; and Vermont Grow Barn, which sells soil, nutrients, tents, lights and other gardening supplies to home growers.
“We try to be all-encompassing,” he said. “Anything you want with the cannabis plant is available here.”
Sparks always informs his customers that Bud Barn is the only family-owned dispensary in Brattleboro, as the other three are owned by multistate operators. And, while he knows that some people will still drive to the Bay State for cheaper weed, he reminds them that the taxes they pay there benefit Massachusetts residents, not Vermonters.
“For the people who care about buying local and supporting Vermont businesses,” he added, “we promote that and hope it means something.” ➆
The original print version of this article was headlined “High Fidelity | Facing stiff competition and strict marketing rules, dispensaries get creative to keep customers coming back”
This article appears in Vermont Cannabiz Guide • 2026.
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