How Sweet Flower, A Celeb-Favorite Cannabis Boutique, Is Raising The Retail Bar In California

How Sweet Flower, A Celeb-Favorite Cannabis Boutique, Is Raising The Retail Bar In California

Share to Linkedin Visiting a dispensary himself for the first time four years ago, Dodd was disappointed in the shopping experience. An avid long distance cyclist, Dodd suffered a crash while training in the Santa Monica Mountains and after being airlifted to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, he was prescribed opioids for his long road to recovery. Instead of using the pharmaceuticals he turned to cannabis, but found the buying experience to be "confused, stigmatized and unapproachable." Inspired by the success of treating his pain with plants instead of pills, he approached Sweet Flower. Dodd, leaving behind executive roles ranging Technicolor to Warner Bros. to Time Warner, acquired Sweet Flower with his colleague of more than two decades, Mike Thomson. Together, they reorganized, rebranded and then opened Sweet Flower's new concept on Melrose in April of 2019 and expanded the original Studio City location with a grand reopening later that same month. In March, Sweet Flower announced its initial external raise — a $15 million Series A round led by AFI Capital Partners with other investors from the retail, media, entertainment and finance sectors. "At AFI, we value high quality operators that have a clear focus," said AFI Capital managing