Native Roots

861 N Summit Blvd
Frisco, CO

Grade: A

Colorado is a haven for many of us in the great middle of America. This great basin is a massive place. It is bigger than most countries. It has long been a liberal refuge in a conservative mass and a purple dollop in the great red middle of America. It is where ideas of a better tomorrow resonate today. Native Roots reflects the confluence of small business, local, and organic hippie Colorado with big business infrastructure that Capitalism defaults to.

Native Roots certainly knows what their core market is. They have shops all over the mountains. Aspen, Dillon, Steamboat, Frisco, Uintah, Colorado Springs, Morrison, and Longmont all have shops. They did a good job covering Denver too. These mountains are a vast playground for many people, and the Native Roots brand is easily recognized throughout these mountains.

The most striking thing for me is their brand design choice. The font combinations put cliché cannabis descriptions on a silkscreen and draped them on the walls. It reminds me of a soda called OK Cola that did a test run in my hometown when I was a young man. The graphics were really catching, but the drink was only mediocre. Actually, it was weird. It was like they took the bottom of all of their empty soda vats and mixed them together. Fortunately, the herbs that Native Roots grows are much, much better.

Their storefronts are cavernous and remind me of many of the underground art shows and parties I have been to. These guys could host a fashion show. They seem like they should host a fashion show. They are like a New York designer tennis shoe store inside. Without the DJs.

For all room they have, the space just feels empty. It is a large problem of the industry right now. People can buy herbs, but there is no way for people to enjoy herbs together. Sure, bars are becoming more accommodating for cannabis consumption, but cannabis and alcohol tend to go together like oil and water.

They need art on the walls for sale, food and drinks that the customers can snack on, and general access to the public in a more accommodating way. They want things that stoners want. We live in a world of things that drunks want. Stoners don’t care about the Broncos or Bud Light commercials. They want a fresh fruit smoothie and something to tickle their two other senses.

There has always been a deeply personal connection between the community and herbs. People used to know their herb dealer like they know their barista now. It was a warm feeling. Now it is a lesson in queuing.

The café is coming to the industry. It has to. Experiments like iBake are going nowhere. It sounds good on paper to have a club where people could gather and smoke in public. But they have to pay a monthly fee and there are no perks. There are no barbecues, no summer block parties, nothing that shows that they are a part of the community. Clubs like Skull and Bones and Bohemian Grove have a lot more to offer than a backroom with card tables.

These ganja shops need color to add to their black and white walls. The ganja community does not fit nicely in a storefront, boxed up and bland. The ganja community is Red Rocks and mountain bikes and many other things grand. Café 3.0 is right around the corner. Native Roots is primed to pounce on the opportunity when it happens.