Mana Supply

Challenge

Turn a single first-time dispensary build — Josh’s very first, in Denver — into a lasting relationship across four locations and five years, each with its own real design problem: a from-scratch concept build, a small-footprint space that needed an operational rethink, a light refresh instead of a rebuild, and a flagship full build-out.

Approach

Denver (2020, finished January 2021) — the origin. In 2019, a referral from Josh’s mural work led to a meeting at a Denver dispensary. The client wanted a Polynesian feel tied to the business name itself — “Mana,” a Polynesian concept for life force — which set the design direction before any material was chosen: Hawaiian/Polynesian wood tones, tribal-pattern artwork across the back wall, and an island-cabin roofline over the POS bar. The standout fixture: a proprietary four-tier “master case” that brings product to eye level under glass with integrated LED lighting, replacing the industry-standard low glass jewelry case that forces customers to bend over.

The relationship grew from there through a handful of conversations with client contact Matt Volz, not one dramatic turning point. Josh and Matt “hit it off” — a similar way of looking at design and function — and Matt had never worked with anyone before who showed him full concepts and renderings ahead of manufacturing. Beyond the design fit, Matt was won over by the finished build, how Josh managed the project (including handling unreliable trade contractors), and the speed of delivery.

Edgewater (design April 2023, install June 2023). A genuinely small building — just under 1,000 sq ft, with 40% already committed to vault and product processing, plus an oversized check-in room that left only about 250 sq ft of usable retail floor. Josh convinced the client to shrink the check-in room and remove the client-facing bathroom, opening the retail floor dramatically. He also convinced them to change their operating model entirely — from a “static” system to a fulfillment system, where product stays in the vault and orders are filled in back and delivered to the POS location. The limited footprint drove custom, one-off floor display cases built specifically for this space, plus the Low Pro wall shelf (max 7″ deep) for wall display.

Middle River (design July 2024, install March 2025). An already-built space that needed a functionality upgrade, not a rebuild — a deliberately lighter scope than the other three. Added 3 Master Cases with rolling carts, 8 Low Pro wall shelves, and 4 extra rolling carts, roughly doubling the display product the floor could hold. The rolling carts do double duty: active inventory on the floor during the day, rolled back into the vault at night for compliance.

Pasadena (design April 2025, install October 2025). The flagship full build-out. The location now operates publicly as The Reserve — a standalone-licensed dispensary brand (“A Collaboration with Mana”), required by Maryland rules since it’s co-owned/operated by the same people as Mana Supply but can’t share Mana Supply’s license. The name launched after the build was finished, not during it.

Result

Four locations across five years, spanning Josh’s first-ever dispensary client to his longest-running one. The relationship has since grown beyond design and fixtures into a consulting conversation as well, under the CIVRAH umbrella.

Lesson: the thing that turned a first job into a five-year relationship wasn’t the fixtures — it was showing the client his own concept before committing it to manufacturing, and then proving out delivery and project management on top of the design.

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