Walk into most dispensaries and you can tell where the money went. The flower gets the nice glass, the lighting and the prime spot. Accessories get whatever's left over, usually a locked case by the register or a few hooks next to the lighters.
And then they don't sell, which surprises nobody. It's hard to buy a grinder you can't pick up.
It's a shame, because the person at your flower counter is about the best accessory customer you'll get. They've just picked their flower. A grinder or a jar is the obvious next thing, as long as they can see it and get a feel for it.
So here are the dispensary display ideas we've seen work, and they work just as well in a smoke shop. There are ten of them, and none needs a store refit. A few acrylic risers off Amazon will cover most of it, and we'll get to the feature cards and signage we supply further down.
Start here: more Apple Store than head shop
Think about the last time you walked into an Apple Store. Almost nothing is behind glass. The phones and laptops are out on tables, switched on, and you're encouraged to pick them up. Apple designs the whole store around what it's like to use the product, not around where the stock goes. They put the user experience first, and the sales follow from that.
That's really our whole point of view on accessories, and everything else in this post hangs off it. The old head-shop wall is the opposite: crowded glass, clashing colors, a hundred SKUs with one of each. If customers have to ask to see something, most of them won't bother.
So put the customer's experience first. Keep finishes uniform and colors under control, and carry fewer products with more of each on the shelf. If it's easy to browse and easy to try, it's a lot easier to buy.
Why accessories are worth the space
Is it worth giving up good shelf space for all this? We think so, for three reasons. Accessories typically carry better margins than the flower sitting next to them. They grow the basket, because a grinder or a jar goes on top of a purchase the customer was already making. And they build loyalty, since someone who uses your grinder every day thinks of your store every day.
That last one is easy to underrate. We have customers who've bought every one of our products in their favorite color. People like that come back to wherever the full line is on the shelf.
What makes an accessory display sell
Good dispensary merchandising mostly comes down to four things.
- Customers can touch it. The quickest way to sell a grinder is to let someone give it a twist. No sign does that job as well.
- It's grouped the way people shop. Nobody walks in thinking in SKUs. They're thinking "I need something to grind with" or "I need somewhere to keep this."
- It looks like someone planned it. When the colors and finishes match, the shelf looks deliberate, and customers trust that the products were picked on purpose.
- It's somewhere customers pass on every visit. The queue is the obvious one. Everybody stands in it, every time, with nothing to do but look around.
Pretty much every idea below comes back to one of these.
10 dispensary display ideas for accessories
1. Put one open demo unit next to the boxes
A boxed grinder is a bit of a mystery. Is it heavy? Does it turn smoothly? Is it a pain to open? People want to know that before they spend $30 on it.
Take one out of the box and set it on a little riser in front of the stack. On a busy Friday when all your budtenders are tied up, that demo unit does the explaining for them.
2. Use POP displays for small, impulse-priced items
Every customer spends at least a minute at the register, and usually a few more in the line leading up to it. That makes it the busiest bit of real estate you've got. Use it for impulse items, which for us means anything with an MSRP under $15 that doesn't need a conversation.
POP (point-of-purchase) displays make this easy, because the box is the fixture. The one we'd start with is our degradable grinder display. It holds 24 grinders in three colors, they're made almost entirely of hemp, and at an MSRP of around $10 they're an easy yes for someone who's already got their wallet out. The POP display for one-hitters works the same way with 20 units at about the same price.
3. Countertop vs wall: know what goes where
Not every accessory belongs in the same spot. It helps to think about how people actually buy each thing.
| Spot | What goes there | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Counter and queue | Degradable grinders, one-hitters, small grinders, cleaning supplies | MSRP under $15, no explanation needed, bought on impulse |
| Wall at eye level | Grinders, storage jars, rolling trays, smell-proof bags | Considered buys that customers like to compare |
| Lower shelves | Multi-packs, refills, humidity packs | Repeat buyers already know what they want |
Eye level is the best space on the wall, so save it for your best sellers. In most stores, that's the wholesale grinders.
4. Put accessories near the flower
You'll see store-design guides suggest walking customers past the accessories on the way to the flower. That treats accessories like a detour. We'd put them right where the flower decision happens.
Think about it from the customer's side. They're choosing an eighth and already wondering how they'll grind it and where they'll keep it. A small spread of grinders and stash jars at the flower counter answers that before they've even asked.
5. Color-block the wall
Ten products in ten colors scattered across a wall looks messy. Take the same ten, group them by color, and suddenly it looks like a plan. Greens together, blacks together, grays together.
Mixed-color packs help here because the colors show up together. That 24-unit degradable grinder display from idea 2 comes in three colors, so it's pretty much blocked out for you before it leaves the box.
Then light it. Most stores spend their lighting budget on the flower and leave the accessory wall in the dark. One small accent light over the grinders does a lot, as long as it isn't glaring off the metal.
6. Build complete setups
Nobody buys a grinder in a vacuum. They're putting together a routine. So put a grinder, a storage jar and a rolling tray side by side as one setup, with a little card that gives it a name. The customer who came in for one piece gets to see the whole kit.
7. Show good, better and best on one shelf
Line up an entry grinder, a mid-tier one and a premium one with the prices showing. Someone who planned on spending $15 gets to see what $30 or $50 buys, and some of them will trade up. The ones who don't still have their $15 option right there. Nobody's being pushed. They're just comparing. Our smoke shop inventory list has that price ladder for grinders, storage, trays and pipes.
8. Add feature cards and simple signage
When every budtender's busy, the display has to do the selling. Short feature cards help a lot, and a few words per benefit is plenty.
You don't have to make these yourself. We provide feature cards for our products, plus an acrylic display sign so people can find the line again next time they're in. Good packaging does part of the job too. The front of our Frosted One Hitter display shows the features as icons, like the deep bowl with a built-in screen, the ash catcher and the little feet that stop it rolling off the counter.
9. Put a price on everything
This one sounds too obvious to list, but we've walked into several dispensaries where the accessories were out on display with no prices anywhere. If you wanted to know what something cost, you had to go and look it up on a kiosk. Hardly anyone does. When shoppers can't see a price, they usually assume it's too high and move on.
Pricing blocks fix it. They're the small acrylic blocks that sit next to the product with the price on the front, and they cost next to nothing. Put one beside every item, demo units included.
10. Refresh the display and go seasonal
Regulars stop seeing a display after a few weeks. You don't need new stock to fix that. Once a month, give it 20 minutes: move the demo unit, rotate which color sits at eye level and swap out whatever's on the counter. Once a quarter, do a proper reset and pull anything that hasn't moved.
The calendar gives you a reason to go further. Around the holidays, build a gift table with ready-made gift sets and a few holiday specials. Accessories are about the easiest present in the store to buy for someone else, and our giftable items bundle is put together for exactly that. A fresh display every season also gives regulars a reason to look twice.
What if everything has to stay behind the counter?
A lot of dispensaries are counter-service. Everything sits behind the counter and the budtender hands it over. Most of the ideas above still work, you just have less room to play with. You've got two good options.
The first is to keep it small. Put a POP display or two on the counter and a few key pieces next to them, out of the box, where the customer can pick them up while they wait. The second is a showcase tower. A glass tower lets you merchandise the whole line in a couple of square feet, color-blocked and priced, and the budtender can pull out anything a customer points at.
Whichever way you go, follow your local rules and laws. What can sit on open display differs from one state and city to the next, so check before you move anything.
What about theft?
It's the first thing people ask when we suggest taking product out of the case, and it's a fair question. Our answer is to keep the product visible and on camera. Put open displays where staff can see them, not round a corner.
Beyond that, we wouldn't lose sleep over it. Your regulars aren't going to steal from you. And whatever small loss you do take is typically outweighed by the increase in sales once people can actually handle the product.
How ONGROK supports displays for retail partners
We design our products to sit quietly in a modern store, with uniform finishes, a controlled color palette and packaging that doesn't fight your fixtures. You can shop the full dispensary accessories wholesale range, or read why retailers choose ONGROK. Beyond the product itself, here's what we help with:
- POP displays built into our 20 and 24-unit display packs
- feature cards and acrylic brand signage
- merchandising kits for retail partners who've bought into the line
- planograms that fit the shelf space you already have
- merchandising check-ins and sell-through data by location
The basics you can pick up yourself. Risers, stands and pricing blocks are a few dollars each on Amazon.
If you'd like to see the product first, ask for a free sample for your store. The POP Display Bundle puts our counter-ready pieces in one order at 10% off. And if an ONGROK product doesn't sell within 60 days, return it for a full refund.
Ready to set up your display? Apply for a wholesale account.
FAQ
What sells the most at dispensaries?
Flower is the biggest category at most dispensaries. On the accessory side, the steady sellers are the everyday tools people use every session: grinders, storage jars and rolling trays. Those are the products worth giving your best display space, at eye level on the wall and in a small display by the flower counter.
Where should accessories go in a dispensary?
Put dispensary accessories in two places. The first is right next to the flower counter, where customers are deciding how they'll grind and store what they're buying. The second is the register, where small items sell on impulse. Try not to keep accessories only by the entrance, since people walk past it before they're ready to shop.
Should accessories be displayed in or out of the packaging?
Keep one accessory out of its packaging as a demo unit and leave the rest boxed beside it. That way customers can feel how a grinder turns or how a jar seals before they buy, and the boxed stock stays clean and ready to sell. If theft is a worry, keep the demo unit in view of staff and on camera.
How often should you change an accessory display?
Give an accessory display a light refresh every month and a full reset every quarter. The monthly one takes about 20 minutes: rotate the colors, move the demo unit and swap the counter product so regulars keep noticing it. The quarterly reset is when you pull the slow sellers.
How do you display accessories in a smoke shop?
Display smoke shop accessories so customers can see and handle them. Small, low-priced items go in counter displays at the register, and grinders and storage go at eye level on the wall, grouped by color. Keep one demo unit out of the box. Fewer products with more facings each looks cleaner and makes the wall easier to shop.