Feel State brings people-first priority and curated inventory to dispensary plans
Feel State, founded by Missouri residents who have experience in the Maryland and California markets, plan to focus wholly on dispensaries. The company has applied for 5 dispensary locations: St. Peters, Cape Girardeau, Springfield, and two in St. Louis.
“Having had experience with all three components of a vertical operation (cultivation, manufacturing, and dispensary), we realized it is extremely challenging to do all three very well at the same time,” Melnick said. “In order to give ourselves the best chance at successfully obtaining a license, Feel State needed to have a very focused and specific business plan to work against, especially related to the application process. The skills of the vast and diverse team we built are much better geared towards dispensary operations. Long term, it is also where we feel we can provide the most value to qualifying patients and primary caregivers.”
Feel State plans to source their inventory from around the state, curating inventory to meet patient demand. They plan to carry a wide selection of products (such as flower, concentrates, edibles, tinctures, patches, etc.), provided they are available in the market and are of a quality that they feel comfortable offering qualifying patients and primary caregivers.
“As the program evolves and matures, so will the product offerings,” Melnick said. “Having people on our team that are constantly keeping up with consumer trends and studying purchasing analytics will help ensure the products we carry match up with the demand.”
“Over the course of the last half-year or so, we have had the pleasure of forming relationships with many cultivation and manufacturing applicants across the state,” Melnick said. “Should we all be fortunate enough to be awarded our respective licenses, we look forward to formally working with these groups in order to help ensure the best and safest product possible is getting into the market.”
Feel State is a people-first company, from patients to staff to partnerships.
“It all begins with making it easier to access the right cannabis products so we can better connect with what matters most in life. Feel State is driven by its passion for people, doing what is right, and cannabis. We hope to create a modern, yet approachable place where individuals feel comfortable knowing that they are being treated right and truly valued all while obtaining the best cannabis advice, information, and products available.”
“Feel State is not an ‘I and me’ company, but rather a “we and us” company,” Melnick said. “We want our success to be driven by the success of others, whether that be an improvement in the quality of life for the patients we serve, our team members, our business partners, or anyone else we have the privilege of connecting with.”
“We truly believe the quality of the overwhelmingly Missouri-based team we have assembled is a very strong attribute of our company. Collectively, and specifically as it relates to cannabis, Feel State has extensive experience with all three vertical operations; legal, compliance and regulatory reform; branding and marketing; and patient and community outreach. Our view from day one has been that we need to build a company with the best people who share the Feel State vision of having a positive impact on both the cannabis industry and the state of Missouri.”
Melnick said the most challenging part of the industry is the “squirrel effect” – the inability to have a clear sense of direction.
“Cannabis is a very fast-moving industry with lots of things getting thrown at you all at once,” Melnick said. “Having a very narrow focus, well-defined business plan, and a clear sense of purpose today will allow you to better adjust and adapt as the industry evolves. One of Feel State’s guiding operational principles is making sure we always know what we are doing and why we are doing it.”
