Daydreams Do Come True
Although the cannabis industry has made great strides in recent years, most dispensaries still leave a lot to be desired — especially for people who are simply looking for CBD products. Which makes walking into Daydream Surf Shop in Costa Mesa, CALIFORNIA — that carries some of our favorite CBD and Hemp products — like walking into a, well, daydream.
We spoke to owners Kyle Kennelly and Becca Mantei about the role CBD and THC play in owning a business, how they choose which products to sell and more about this exciting new aspect in retail.
SVN Space: With so many CBD products popping up, what criteria do you have for CBD brands that you carry in your shop?
Daydream: It’s nice to have so many options with CBD products, it allows you to be picky as a buyer. The whole package is important. Is the product made from Hemp or a CBD heavy strain, is it grown domestically, is it grown with sketchy chemicals, does it do its job well, is it branded nicely? All these things are factors that play a role in whether or not Daydream wants to represent this product. With all the options nowadays, we can have the best of all options with well-branded, domestically grown, organically grown CBD products that work super well.
What stands out to you in regards to the hemp clothing you carry?
Hemp clothing stands out for its feel. We love the "nubby" density of hemp and hemp blend clothing. There's something about the beefiness of the textiles that makes the shirts feel like they could last a lifetime and wear in really well over time.
Do you test each product out before you feel like it deserves a spot on the shelves at Daydream?
For sure! Testing products is so important! We want to be able to talk about each product in depth, which means we need to use it to answer folks' questions regarding how the product makes you feel, if it’s something you should use on a long-term basis or, just as necessary, if the Summerland pipes are easy to keep clean, all that jazz. We also just enjoy testing out products — especially ones that incorporate CBD or THC.
What sort of products do you carry in Daydream?
For hemp-related products, we carry Jungmaven clothing and Mollusk's hemp tees. We also have a CBD salve from Poppy and Someday; we also have a healthy stock of Summerland Ceramics, as well as Mary Joe CBD cold brew coffee.
What’s your hope for the cannabis — CBD/THC — industry as a whole?
Cannabis is the future. It’s going to help so many people in so many ways. We're just experiencing the tip of the iceberg. We hope that the cannabis industry continues to grow high-quality, organic trees with a focus on developing products that improve people's lives. Whether it's a CBD/THC product that someone uses as an alternative to anything from Advil for headaches to an opioid for pain and even for helping to fight cancer and its effects, we have friends in our lives that have experienced so much help from these awesome little plants as alternatives to products that are much harder on the human body. It's also nice to see the industry rebranding itself as something that's much more approachable to the average person rather than validating the stoner stereotype. Companies like Summerland Ceramics really stand out to us as businesses that are positively influencing the industry in terms of design.
Describe your personal relationship to cannabis.
In terms of our relationship to cannabis, we are advocates of CBD as entrepreneurs because starting a business is a really stressful endeavor and regular use of CBD helps both of us cope with the added stress to our lives by helping us stay cool, calm and collected. It is also a helpful tool for meditation, which helps us listen to ourselves more deeply. This is important from a business perspective because it allows us to bring to light things that are hard to focus on when you're listening to the rest of the world such as, "What should our business look like in five years?" or "How can I tap into my area of expertise deeper?" or "What is unique about our business that can allow us to differentiate us from others?" CBD can be helpful for a range of other little things, too, like headaches, muscle pains, skin irritations and injury.
THC is great, too. It is a good way to signify or celebrate an end to a day. As business owners, your work is never done; you can always be doing more to speed up the progression of your business, so your to-do list is never-ending. Cannabis can be useful when you know that you need to tap into the "life" side of your work/life balance and helps us to put our work down and tap into a relaxed state for a short period of time before getting back to the grind.
Shop and learn more about Daydream on their site. And follow them on Instagram at @daydreamsurfshop.
