Inside the Jersey Shore’s first women-owned legal weed shop

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Christine Casile and Nicole Stermer have been friends for over 30 years, dating back to when they were freshmen in high school.

Now, they are majority owners of the first women-owned weed shop to open along the Jersey Shore.

Their company, Design 710, opened to medical patients in Atlantic City earlier this year and started serving recreational customers Aug. 15.

“The Dispensary by the Sea” is located just a block from the boardwalk at 112 Park Place inside the Claridge Hotel.

“This has truly been a dream come true for us!” Casile said. “We first applied in 2018 in Pennsylvania, waited seven months for a decision, and lost. We were devastated. We decided to not give up and applied in New Jersey in 2019. We waited 26 long months to find out that we finally won in 2021. It would then take us until 2023 to open our doors for medical sales.”

Casile and Stermer have accomplished many feats together, from competing in Tough Mudders to, now, owning a cannabis business.

“This journey plays like a box office thriller,” Stermer said. “It has the ups, the downs, the drama, your villains, and your heroines. It’s all there. The past couple years have definitely been a learning experience for all of us.”

Design 710 reflects Atlantic City’s culture, while showcasing Casile’s work as a cannabis industry interior designer.

Floor-to-ceiling panels are lined with historic Atlantic City billboard posters. The foyer has local art, curated by staff members and sold on-site. With a quick rotation of the artwork, the gleaming product displays and old-fashioned train station flipboards are revealed.

“We wanted something modern, but nostalgic,” said Casile. “The flow of the space is very purposeful. It’s part art gallery featuring amazing work by local artists, and part boutique. When it came to the design, I wanted to be subliminal.”

Customers enter through a door that opens into a sleek, curving modern space. Behind the main desk, there is a huge screen with a sequence of a swirling ocean, giving the space a beach vibe.

Design 710 has an experienced staff, too. Each employee intermittently works every station, meaning the person at the security desk might also be your budtender the next day.

“We all came from working for multi-state cannabis companies,” assistant general manager Omar Marshall said. “There’s a finite number of patients, and they each have favorite budtenders that they follow from different dispensaries. Sometimes they come in wanting to work with a specific person. We are all trained to do every job, and rotate daily.”

Marshall said Design 710′s extensive menu and knowledgeable staff are top attractions for medical patients.

“We stock our inventory based on quality, flavor profiles and terpenes,” Marshall said. “We want to make sure we have a variety of combinations so that patients can match exactly with what strain they need, not just the closest strain they can get.”

General Manager Jeffrey Ravasio said each staff member has at least two years of experience in the New Jersey medical weed space.

The company emphasized hiring workers with cannabis knowledge to deliver an ideal customer experience.

“It allowed us the opportunity to really learn a lot as we prepared to open, get our operational flow tight, and be able to provide patients with an experience that I don’t think you’re gonna parallel, anywhere,” Ravasio said.

Flower is the company’s most popular sales category, Ravasio said, with pre-rolls being a close second.

Customers can use either budtenders or kiosks. The store carries brands such as Airo, Anthologie, LIT, Kynd, Seed and Strain and the statewide patient favorite, Breakwater.

Design 710 is dealing with common growing pains that newer dispensaries face, especially those without the backing of a large multi-state operator (MSO). The store faces stiff competition from nearby shops The Botanist and MPX NJ, both backed by MSOs.

And like many operators in New Jersey, marketing to new customers has been a challenge.

Casile said the company is partnering with the mayor’s office to create mentorships with other entrepreneurs looking to open weed shops in Atlantic City.

“The road to getting the doors open can take years and mountains of expertise from so many different people,” she said. “From compliance to medical information, we have so many equity partners that helped get us to this finish line.”

Design 710 offers discounts to senior citizens, first responders (nurses, EMTs, veterans, police and fire department members), Atlantic City residents and cannabis industry workers.

The store is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and a free parking lot is just across the street from the entrance on Pacific Ave.

“It’s been a dream come true,” Sterner said. “It is absolutely amazing to see it all come to fruition, and to know that the people that have been doing the daily grind on this project are truly people I care about makes it all the more special.

“Knowing what we have come from, to where we are, is surreal.”

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Gabby Warren is NJ.com’s Cannabis Life reporter. She covers all things weed retail, commerce and culture. Have a question about consuming weed? Ask me anything.

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