Dispensary Growth Built Different: Operators Who Are Expanding While Everyone Else Hits the Brakes

July 30, 2026
By Dustin Hoxworth

For the last several years, we’ve all seen a slew of negative cannabis industry headlines dominated by layoffs, store closures, distressed assets, shrinking margins, and companies fighting just to survive. Depending on the market, it can sometimes feel like contraction has become the industry’s default setting. And yet, while many operators are pulling back, others continue to expand.

Across a multitude of the largest state markets, a handful of dispensary groups continue opening stores, entering new markets, and investing in long-term growth despite 280E, regulatory uncertainty, increasing competition, and economic pressure. That piqued my interest: what separates the operators who continue growing from those who are struggling to stay afloat?

To find out the answer to my question, I reached out to some of the best-known operators in cannabis: Lauren Carpenter, Co-Founder and CEO of Embarc, Nevil Patel, CEO of Shangri-La, Joshua Riggs, Co-Founder of Social Cannabis, and Brendan McKee, Co-Founder and COO of Silver Therapeutics.

While each company operates in different markets and under different circumstances, a clear theme emerged from each interaction. Growth doesn’t come from being aggressive; it’s from being disciplined.

Lessons on Dispensary Growth from Four Dispensary Operators

Dispensary Growth for the Sake of Growth Isn’t the Goal

At first glance, the numbers alone are pretty impressive. Embarc currently operates 17 dispensaries throughout California and has additional stores in development. Shangri-La has grown to 13 locations across Missouri, Ohio, and Connecticut, and plans to add 11 more stores over the next 18 months. Silver Therapeutics currently operates 10 locations across five states and is preparing to open additional stores in Minnesota and New York. Social Cannabis recently opened its ninth Colorado location while continuing expansion efforts in New Jersey.

What stood out wasn’t how many stores these companies have opened. It was how carefully they talked about growth. Lauren describes Embarc’s approach as “scale, then stabilize.” Rather than chasing expansion at all costs, the company focuses on opening a location, strengthening operations, identifying weaknesses, and ensuring the foundation is solid before moving on to the next opportunity.

Joshua expressed a similar philosophy, noting that Social Cannabis has turned down multiple opportunities because they didn’t align with the company’s business model. That patience may sound simple, but in an industry that spent years rewarding rapid expansion, it represents a significant shift in thinking. The operators that are still growing today aren’t opening every store they can; they’re opening the stores they believe should exist.

Discipline Beats Hype

If there was one lesson repeated throughout every conversation, it was the importance of operational discipline. The cannabis industry has always attracted passionate people, which is great because a lot of folks entered the space because they believe in the plant, want to help people, or want to be part of something bigger than themselves. Love and passion absolutely matter, but love and passion alone don’t keep the lights on.

Joshua put it bluntly: “Loving weed is not a business plan.” That statement captures a reality many operators have learned the hard way.

Brendan echoed that same philosophy from a financial perspective. “Cash flow is critical.” For McKee, maintaining lean teams, controlling labor costs, managing construction timelines, and carefully funding expansion projects are essential to long-term success. Growth only works when the financial foundation underneath it remains stable.

At Social Cannabis, Joshua describes the company culture as one built around ruthless efficiency, with a constant focus on payroll, overhead, inventory costs, and profitability.

At Shangri-La, Nevil points to operational efficiency as one of the primary areas of focus moving forward, particularly as the company evaluates new retail models designed to improve customer experience while reducing operating costs. His vision is that cannabis retail will increasingly resemble the convenience and accessibility consumers already expect from other retail sectors, while becoming more efficient behind the scenes.

Meanwhile, Lauren highlighted something often overlooked in business discussions: ego. She has watched operators make decisions driven by fear of missing out, emotion, and personal identity rather than objective business fundamentals. Over time, she’s learned that separating emotions from business decisions must be a deliberate practice if long-term growth is the goal.

These are four very different companies, with different leaders and leadership styles, yet they all have the same underlying lesson to share with the rest of us – the days of easy money in cannabis are over. Discipline is now THE competitive advantage.

The Hidden Cost of Dispensary Growth

When people talk about scaling a dispensary business, they often focus on financing, operations, licensing, and market selection. What they talk about far less is the human cost.

Lauren offered perhaps the most unique perspective of any interview participant when discussing what expansion actually looks like in California. For her, growth means spending countless hours meeting with community members, local officials, law enforcement representatives, and residents who may have serious concerns about cannabis entering their neighborhoods.

Sometimes those conversations are deeply uncomfortable, but productive. She described spending years sitting across from people who believed she was trying to damage communities, harm children, or introduce problems into places they care deeply about. Even when approached with respect and openness, those conversations take an emotional toll. Winning a community’s trust once is very difficult, but trying to win it repeatedly across dozens of communities may be one of the least discussed challenges in cannabis expansion.

As Lauren explained: “Winning a community’s trust is incredible; scaling that dozens of times is a lot of work and is emotionally taxing.”

That reality is often invisible to the rest of us. When people see new store openings, they usually think about permits, construction, financing, and operations. What they don’t see are the years of conversations, public meetings, community outreach, and relationship building that often happen long before a dispensary ever opens its doors.

Lauren also pointed to another reality many operators don’t discuss publicly: growth can be lonely. As organizations expand, leaders often find themselves balancing competing interests from employees, investors, regulators, vendors, community stakeholders, law enforcement agencies, and customers all at the same time. Managing those competing pressures while maintaining clarity of vision is a challenge that doesn’t show up on a balance sheet, but it affects every growing company.

Every Cannabis Market Writes Its Own Rules

Another major theme that emerged was the importance of understanding that success in one market doesn’t automatically translate into success somewhere else.

Nevil stressed that operators absolutely need to understand exactly why they’ve been successful before entering a new state. Every market brings unique compliance requirements, marketing restrictions, transportation rules, packaging regulations, potency standards, purchasing limits, and customer expectations. What works in one state may not work at all in another.

Joshua learned this lesson firsthand. Before Social Cannabis, he helped build a multi-store operation in Oklahoma. Despite passion, experience, and effort, the business ultimately struggled in a market environment that became difficult to sustain. That experience reinforced an uncomfortable reality. Sometimes, even strong operators can find themselves facing conditions beyond their control.

Cannabis remains one of the few industries where regulatory decisions can dramatically reshape the future of a business overnight. For that reason, both Joshua and Nevil emphasized adaptability as a critical survival skill. The operators who last are not necessarily the smartest or most passionate. They’re often the most adaptable.

Building for Decades, Not Quarters

What I found to be the most eye-opening and surprising perspective came from Nevil. When discussing sustainable growth, he explained that Shangri-La evaluates its future in decades rather than quarters.

“Our primary focus is on the long term, spanning more than two decades,” Patel said. Viewed through that lens, challenges like 280E, shifting regulations, and federal uncertainty become obstacles to navigate rather than reasons to stop building.

That same long-term mindset appeared throughout every interview. Silver Therapeutics continues expanding while carefully controlling costs and preserving financial discipline. Social Cannabis remains selective about opportunities and committed to operational rigor. Embarc continues growing while reinvesting in stabilization and community engagement. Shangri-La continues investing in future retail models while preparing for a future where cannabis is treated more like any other age-restricted consumer product.

None of these companies is interested in shortcuts. They’re interested in longevity and in our industry. That may be the most important distinction.

The Cannabis Operators Still Standing

There was a time when opening a dispensary could feel like unlocking a door and waiting for customers to walk in. That time has passed. Today’s cannabis retailers face intense competition, shrinking margins, regulatory complexity, heavy taxation, and constant market pressure.

The operators still expanding in that environment are not necessarily the biggest companies or the most heavily funded. They’re the ones building systems, managing risk, investing in relationships, and the ones willing to say no when everyone else says yes. Most importantly, they’re treating cannabis retail like the serious business it has become.

If there is one lesson that can leave you with that was shared by Embarc, Shangri-La, Silver Therapeutics, and Social Cannabis, it’s this: Growth isn’t about moving faster than everyone else. It’s about building something strong enough to still be standing when everyone else stops moving.

As Joshua put it: “The operators still standing aren’t the most passionate. They’re the most structured and disciplined.”

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