A fun game I like to play when I am out and about is to notice what businesses are located in certain areas that are prime locations for their target customers. Whenever I see this, I immediately notice how well they know their audience.
The term ‘audience’ is one that seems straightforward, but often isn’t. Knowing your audience means understanding who represents the prime target for the message you are trying to spread or the product you are trying to sell. If you don’t know your audience, you are likely to fail or see limited returns from your efforts. When someone truly knows their audience though, the results are hard to miss.
An example? I am originally from Michigan, where recreational marijuana was legalized in 2018. Since then, the state has seen a huge boost in its economy. In 2021, the state collected $175 million from a 10% excise tax on recreational cannabis sales, almost four times what they collected the previous year. So, with that being said, cannabis users represent a significant customer base.
My hometown is very close to the Ohio border. Although recreational cannabis sales are now legal in Ohio and events are in the works to celebrate its legalization, it will be months before anyone can purchase recreational cannabis. For many cannabis users in Ohio, this means that they will need to cross the border into Michigan to purchase cannabis products (Is this legal? Technically no. But it’s an incredibly common practice regardless).
With this in mind, guess where there is an incredibly high concentration of dispensaries in Michigan? You guessed it, just off a highway exit about 14 miles past the Michigan-Ohio border.
As soon as you cross the Michigan border, you see multiple billboards advertising dispensaries with silly puns and eye-catching titles (one of my favorites reads “Discover the New Michigan State Flower”). Many of these billboards on I-75 direct drivers to exit 11 for Laplaisance Rd.
For the past few years, I have watched the Laplaisance Rd exit grow exponentially as no less than seven dispensaries have popped up, several taking up residence in what used to be Monroe Factory Shops. On April 20th (4/20) of this year, literally hundreds of people showed up to the formerly abandoned outlet mall on Laplaisance to celebrate the unofficial “stoner” holiday. A few of the people photographed in the area for The Detroit News are identified as Ohio residents.
Another funny thing about this area? The Taco Bell got a major upgrade for the first time since the 90s. If you don’t see the connection…well, let’s just say that the fast food chain is VERY popular with this customer base after purchase. Taco Bell could afford the investment in this location after a huge influx of new customers.
There are also gas stations and hotels in this area, as you might expect along a highway exit, but this area has become a hotspot for cannabis users who live within 30 miles of the border.
Monroe Factory Shops, formerly called Horizon Outlet Center, was built in 1987 to attract shoppers off the highway and in Monroe. However, it has had difficulty keeping tenants, likely because of the location. Too much was built too fast and the 2008 recession hit the region hard, so almost everything closed. Even several fast food chains off exit 11 closed their doors. An investor, Chris Harter, purchased the outlet mall in 2015 in hopes of reviving it as a shopping center but it failed once again. In many ways, I believe this was because the audience was misunderstood.
In fact, in a 2021 interview with The Toledo Blade, Harter stated, “Our problem was in not foreseeing the retail environment, not foreseeing the difficulty in having retail business returning to that site after it had become vacant.” In other words, there was not enough appeal to reach the target audience.
Despite his initial failure to recognize that the location did not have the appeal for shoppers, Harter then recognized the potential for dispensaries to set up shop due to Monroe County’s high usage of medical marijuana. What Harter may not have known was that the largest customer base would be crossing state lines. The dispensary owners, on the other hand, were likely very aware and saw a golden opportunity. They knew their audience and the results are clear.
Unless there is a unique feature off an exit that may reasonably attract travelers on the highway — like a wide variety of dispensaries that are unavailable to people the next state over — most people get off on exits to go to the bathroom, sleep, get gas, or grab a quick bite to eat. They are not, however, going to go shopping at an outlet mall with nothing enticing to offer when there are better options in Ann Arbor to the north or Toledo to the south. Monroe residents are also more likely to do their shopping in these areas since options are limited in town.
But will they stop to pick up products they might not be able to get close to home? Absolutely.
The key takeaway: If you target the right audience, you will see massive growth rates. It’s just common sense.