Nestled in the heart of West Cape May, New Jersey, stands a vibrant building that's impossible to miss. With its exterior mural of swirling blue waves and bright orange flowers, this dispensary captures the laid-back, coastal vibe before you even step inside.
Welcome to Shore House Canna. Founded by Nicole Melchiorre, Tom Nuscis, and Dave Christian when New Jersey legalized cannabis for adult use, their goal has always been to inject the vibrant Jersey Shore energy into the dispensary while avoiding a sterile, medical feel.
Hyper-local is the heart of Shore Canna’s strategy
“Our thought was, these MSOs can't really brand hyper-local, being that they are trying to brand for multiple states, so we wanted to focus on connecting with the local community in a way that the MSOs couldn't.”
Dave Christian
Partner, Shore House Canna
Shore House Canna opened for business on September 25th, 2023 after two years of planning and community outreach in New Jersey.
Inside the dispensary, products are creatively displayed under colorful surfboards, with local art showcased throughout the space, making it a true reflection of the community it serves.
“When people say they’re going away for the weekend, they go to the shore. They don’t say they’re going to the beach. Nicole said. “So Shore House is a nod to the area being at the Jersey Shore.”
West Cape May hosted over 11 million tourists in 2023, so it’s no surprise that Shore House Canna has seen a good mix of tourists amidst their local customer base, especially in the summertime. The New Jersey dispensary serves more local customers in winter as tourists head home.
"We see many people in this dispensary that you would never picture going into a dispensary. We have an elderly population that feels comfortable coming here, especially for products like sleep gummies."
Dave Christian
Partner, Shore House Canna
With delivery options and a roll-up window, Shore House Canna is a mainstay for West Cape May regardless of season or consumer demographic.
Protecting customer data and powering seamless integration
The Shore House Canna team was energized and excited to open its doors, but with no prior dispensary experience, they knew there would be a mountain to climb.
After two years of studying successful dispensary businesses, Nicole, Tom, and Dave determined that an easy, consumer-focused technology stack would be a non-negotiable part of their strategy.
The team spent over 100 hours evaluating dispensary technology platforms, recognizing it as one of the most crucial factors in opening their doors—specifically how customer privacy was protected in cannabis technology.
"The industry has thousands of customers. One of the things that concerned me early on in our investigation was customer data and controlling our customer data. And determining who had access to our customer data. I didn’t want people to know our customers' purchasing habits. It was a really big driver in our tech stack."
Dave Christian
Partner, Shore House Canna
Dave told us that he had read the terms of services for each provider he had explored and was less than thrilled to discover some leading industry point-of-sale platforms own their client’s customer data.
Integration was another vital piece of the puzzle. Shore House Canna had already settled on a loyalty and marketing platform. The team didn’t want to do “double work” and wanted “the technology to speak to each other, at least the best it could.”
Shore House Canna finds a best-in-class solution
After hundreds of hours of research and countless demos with POS providers ranging from mom-and-pop to the most expensive solution on the market, Shore House Canna chose Flowhub.
All customer data on the Flowhub platform is protected and dispensaries have full ownership over their customer information. We comply with SOC 2, meaning our customer data is handled with the highest care and confidentiality.
"Flowhub's user interface is just the best of all of them. I figured we’d be living in this technology for many of our days, so I wanted it to be really easy to look at and navigate. It's really easy to train budtenders on quickly."
Dave Christian
Partner, Shore House Canna
Aside from peacefully living in Maui’s POS paradise, the Shore House Canna team relies on the View app to monitor performance analytics daily.
“I use the View app all the time,” Nicole told us. “I’ve been using it to do a lot of merchandising on the floor: shirts, hats, all that fun stuff. We’ve also been using it for the expiration dates to spot expired products and ensure we are marketing them appropriately to avoid spoilage.”
“I live on the View app. It gives me real-time insights into what’s selling and what needs attention, and I can make decisions quickly, even from my phone. We can see which items we’re having trouble moving, and before we go to deals, we look at Flowhub’s expiration report to identify which products are selling slowly.”
Dave Christian
Partner, Shore House Canna
Flowhub also simplifies customer check-ins and payments, allowing Shore House to offer debit payments through Flowhub Pay, a customer favorite. More than half of Shore House’s transactions are via debit card, and many customers don’t realize the dispensary is cash only.
“So when they don’t have cash, the debit card is really easy,” said Dave.
Using technology to build community
Since opening in September 2023, Shore House has become a fan favorite in their local community.
They’ve built a dispensary from the ground up and have leaned on Flowhub’s technology to enhance the consumer’s branded experience. With Flowhub, the team has been able to streamline operations, offer a smooth purchasing experience, and focus on what they care about most: connecting with their community.
Shore House celebrated their first anniversary in September 2024 with events and promotions to thank customers.
With Flowhub’s data insights, they are able to track customer trends, plan for busy seasons, and ensure their inventory meets demand as they head into their second year.
“Flowhub has been critical to our success. It’s more than just a point-of-sale system. It helps us run every aspect of our business more efficiently, allowing us to focus on what matters: our customers and our community.”
Dave Christian
Partner, Shore House Canna
Thank you, Shore House Canna, for sharing your story. We’re proud to be a part of your journey and can’t wait to see where you go next!
