Looking for some advice and some direction as to becoming an actual vendor and looking to open a retail kratom spot. I’ve tried posting elsewhere and they block it. Any info would be greatly appreciated. I love kratom and it’s the only thing I’m passionate about.
Looking for some advice and so
Someone asked a similar question on the Double M site last summer. It wasn’t specific to opening a store, but some of the answers still apply.
Hey @Gary-Hargus welcome to kratom watchdog. I am one of the owners of this app. We allow all kinds of kratom discussion on here and you wont be censored. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. Also once your up and running feel free to post your ads in our vendors section. We allow all vendors to open their own groups and post ad’s. Where are you thinking of opening a shop? Also have you checked out kava bars? Many of the kava ars I have been to sell kratom as well. To me as a visitor I find them more welcoming to new users as it allows them to be introduced to kratom thru a friendly fun atmosphere. Especially with all the stigma. Not to mention they make good money too. Also, If you have any questions about being a vendor feel free to pm.
you guys are awesome, I really appreciate how welcoming you guys are and the amount of info I’ve been able to gather from your recommendation. It’s exactly what I need and it’s such honest detail. Thank you.
@guywithtrees I am thinking of opening a spot in Phoenix. AZ or surrounding city. I’m aware of 2 kava/kratom lounges and also a couple places in Tucson,AZ like miracle koffee which I’d be looking to do more of an espresso kratom bar with a possible drive thru experience and then selling everything from powders to extracts and specializing in this kratom espresso method that I’ve developed.
@Gary-Hargus A drive thru idea would def be a good idea with the pandemic going on. Or people that would like a hot/ cold cup on the go. I've never heard of espresso kratom. That is a really cool idea! Are you adding any coffee to the blend? At the moment we are working with a couple shops to provide our fresh kratom leaf as we are the only vendor with fresh kratom leaf from fully mature trees and I have to say the experience has been quite good. Customers like it and the shops are pretty open to the idea.
@pete2000 thank you for the info. I’ve been reading up on all of the details and it’s exactly what I needed and the total honesty is priceless. You guys rock!!
@guywithtrees so I’ve been making this espresso strictly only with my kratom powder and nothing else. It’s been a game changer for me and I’m yet to find anything that works better. Essentially it’s an instant infusion. I finally got a look at your trees and I am super impressed, I’m going to need to try some of that leaf you got. I’m curious what kind of push back the city and the competitors might cause. I think I’ve got a good supplier from Indonesia and trying to make sure they are consistent before I make a major investment. I’ve got some names and ideas for my branding, packaging, and presentation and my sister in law is a graphic designer which should also help. I know it’s going to be difficult and a pain in the ass but honestly aside from my wife and kids the only thing I’ve had a passion for is this amazing tree. I am almost ready to officially throw my vendor hat in the ring and start out as a local social media vendor and with the ultimate goal of a retail kratom espresso and kratom smoothie type set up.
Ps....just an advance warning.....I’m going to have a ton of questions for you guys as I go. Thanks for helping me start this journey.
@Gary-Hargus Please feel free to ask. I will say do not expect to make a profit for a while. We have been in business for about 3 years now and in the time we have not paid ourselves for our work. Everything we make goes back into the company. Also vending only on social medias is a bit tough. Most social media platforms do not allow for kratom sales or vendors. Sure some people might slip through the cracks but it is quite difficult to promote without promoting. I have seen 100k groups go from 50k to 10k to 5k to 2k all in the span of 2 years. The majority of which get shut down before they get big. It is one of the reasons why we built this platform. Besides it being a place to promote our own products. I can advertise my app on these platforms as we are not providing links to a sales site or products but a "social media platform". This also gets around their TOS as we lock the app behind a login page so we can still promote the app that just so happens to have vendor content on it. We also give this promotional ability to vendors as they can create and maintain their own groups. And if the vendor wants to work with us we can provided vendor branded Android and IOS apps for their groups that gives all control to the vendor. We do intend to open a market place but we are building out kynto at this time.
It is also very hard to get a merchant and any cash apps will close your account at first mention....And consumers really only buy unless you have merchant. Its hard out here for a pimp.
@Gary-Hargus Right on man! Thanks for checking out our trees! I'm very proud of them. If you have a chance, check out this video. It is of our automated 3D drone swarm mapping program for our kratom avatar chat Kynto and for documentary purposes. We plan on also rendering this data in Unity so we can run it on the Playstation 4 and 5 vr system, Oculus platform, and google cardboard.
PM me your address and I will send you a sample.