“We’re real and passionate weed smokers. The other stores are corporations. Scarlet Fire was built by passionate cannabis users, for passionate cannabis users.”
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Dead Heads will feel at home at Scarlet Fire Cannabis Co., one of the latest retail cannabis stores to open in Toronto.
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Founded by David Ellison, a former securities lawyer, the shop reflects Ellison’s passion for the Grateful Dead, music, magic and psychedelia.
Designed by SevenPoint Interiors, which has previously designed stores for Friendly Stranger, Spirit Leaf and Sessions Cannabis, among others, the store features its own “Rabbit Hole,” with a series of portholes cut through scarlet-stained panels backdropped by a circular screen of moving psychedelic images, that’s viewable through the front window.
The effect creates “a somewhat hallucinatory optical illusion,” according to a news release.
“At Scarlet Fire, we wanted to create a customer engagement so different from what they are used to,” said Ellison. “We start our customers on a journey and educate them. We’ve created a place where cannabis, music, magic and psychedelia merge,” he said.
With Toronto’s streets increasingly lined with cannabis shops, Scarlet Fire is hoping to offer something a little different to consumers.
Other odes to the Grateful Dead include the “Wall of Sound,” a replica of the Dead’s touring sound system, as well as items from Ellison’s personal collection of Dead memorabilia. These include replicas of Jerry Garcia’s guitars, as well as the first Grateful Dead T-shirt Ellison purchased, acquired at a Florida flea market when he was 16-years-old.
“There are two types of people in the world: those who collect things to put on their shelves and those who collect experiences. I consider myself part of the latter group. Every Grateful Dead show is different, and chasing the Dead is the last great American adventure, the last piece of real magic that exists in the world. I wanted to bring that magic and sense of adventure to my shop,” Ellison said.
The store also offers consumer education and features Terpene Station, a nod to the Grateful Dead’s 1977 album, Terrapin Station, a display that explains cannabis terpenes. Visitors are invited to hang out, talk cannabis and music, and explore the store’s offerings.
The shop carries craft-grown cannabis with Moe Berghaus, general manager and head cannabis curator, making the product selections.
“Ultimately, it’s our reputation that’s on the line,” said Berghaus. “I look for growers that grow in small batches, hang dry, hand trim, meticulously cure and hand package their cannabis. Those are the growers that put the consumer first,” he said.
“We’re real and passionate weed smokers,” added Ellison. “The other stores are corporations. Scarlet Fire was built by passionate cannabis users, for passionate cannabis users. We’re here to share that passion and pay it forward.”
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