Marijuana is made musical at new Berkley dispensary in Michigan

This story was republished with permission from Crain’s Detroit and written by Elizabeth Schanz. 

A new cannabis dispensary in Oakland County promises to create an experience that immerses customers in marijuana’s musical connections.

Diverging from the typical cannabis dispensary model, Seven Point aims to create an approachable and active atmosphere for customers that provides education about products and advances the cannabis purchasing experience through music.

The shop is intended to be a place where cannabis and music intersect, doubling as a record store with newly released vinyl albums and turntables for sale.

Opening in August at 28557 Woodward Ave. in Berkley is the business’ second location. The first opened in Illinois on April 20 to coincide with 420, a traditional marijuana-related holiday.

“Being in the business for this long, I see a lot of dispensaries around the country and I’m usually disappointed when I go in and check them out because they all seem the same,” Zerman said.

Seven Point will feature different cannabis products next to records of a variety of music genres. The product on the wall will be separated by musical genre with a cannabis product that “pairs” with the particular records. Concert footage will play over each section while a turntable will play records for the store.

“We’re so close to Detroit that we can see all sorts of different things happening in the store that will be good for customers, would be good for music, it’d be good for cannabis,” Zerman said.

Zerman has been in the cannabis business for 10 years, starting in 2014 with a medical marijuana dispensary in Oak Park, Ill., outside Chicago, which he sold in 2019.

The Seven Point dispensary shop in Berkley was approved on Oct. 3, 2022, by the Berkley Planning Commission and City Council. Berkley set a limit of five cannabis dispensaries. The city has issued all five cannabis licenses with Seven Point and another dispensary, Yellow Tail Venture, in the process of building out.

“In Berkley, we’re fortunate to have a diverse business community,” said Caitlin Flora, the director of communications for the city of Berkley. “Part of what the cannabis industry brings to Berkley is the opportunity for additional dollars to fund core service delivery.”

Why metro Detroit for Seven Point’s second location? Zerman, an Illinois resident, grew up in Bloomfield Township and his Michigan business partner, co-founder and COO Gabe Rubin, lives in Huntington Woods.

And the fact that Michigan is a leader in the cannabis industry was a big draw. In 2023, $3 billion worth of medical and recreational cannabis was sold in Michigan — the second-biggest cannabis market in the U.S. following California.

Zerman said they have invested $3.5 million in the Berkley location since they began applying for licenses around 2019. The new shop is 3,405 square feet and leased from Dan Winter of Prime Management Co. in Birmingham for $14,000 a month. The general contractor is Merrick Farber, who is also a partner in the business. According to Zerman, the startup costs including construction and build-out are approximately $2 million and pre-operational expenses, working capital and inventory are estimated to be $500,000.

Zerman aims to have the business open before the Woodward Dream Cruise on Aug. 17 brings in a million or more people to the 16-mile route. The shop will have around 20-30 employees.

Seven Point expects annual revenue of $15 million-$20 million, Zerman said, with cannabis accounting for 95% of sales.

Another aspect that sets the Seven Point location apart from competitors is the interactive product-education technology. Customers will be able to pick up product packaging displayed on the sales floor and place the products on a scanner. The scanner then displays information about the product that comes directly from the local supplier. Zerman said the technology, similar to what is seen in other retailers like Walmart, costs “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Zerman explained that customers’ ability to independently navigate products in the store is unique in the industry. At most dispensaries, product packing is kept behind glass. He said it is an interesting practice because it is illegal to have cannabis products on the floor, even behind glass, so the packaging is empty.

“We wanted to just bring down all that stuff and make it more like a regular store because we’re just trying to normalize the business,” Zerman said.

Zerman hopes to engage the community in multiple ways. The back of the store will have a mural painted by local artists Troy Dirkse, co-owner of The Neighbor’s Shoppe, and Olivia DePaul. He said the business model opens opportunities for creative collaborations, like being the location of a record release party or a place for new promotional practices.

“It could be more fun for the growers if we could pair like new record releases with strains and stuff that are coming out,” Zerman said “There’s just so much creativity that could come out of this that we don’t even know yet what it could be.”