The starting point

Hookah Hookup was a chain of about a dozen stores across three states: a conventional head shop selling bongs, papers, and posters. The concept had not been meaningfully updated in over a decade. Staff were underpaid and unmotivated, the stores carried no real differentiation, and there was no clear path to adapt as demand shifted toward hemp, CBD, and wellness.

What I built

I rebuilt the business end to end and gave it a new identity: Apotheca. That covered the name, the logo, the website, and the interior design of every store, along with the staffing model, uniforms, a code of ethics, supplier relationships, sourcing standards, and every internal SOP.

The store design traded head-shop clutter for an apothecary feel: natural light wood, curated wall displays, an education table stocked with reference books, and product presented as remedies rather than paraphernalia.

On the operations side I sourced 40-plus brands and suppliers across tinctures, skin care, raw flower, lip balm, essential oils, supplements, and smoking accessories, hired and trained 30-plus team members, and authored every SOP and policy the company needed across supply chain, back of house, and front of house.

The five-location proof

I ran the build through the first five locations: retail stores in Burlington, Asheville, and Cornelius, North Carolina, plus farmers-market operations in the Winston-Salem and Charlotte areas. Every one of those markets is still active today, and Asheville and Charlotte have each expanded into multiple stores.

Where it stands today

The brand and operating model I built has since scaled to roughly 60 Apotheca locations across four states. The concept proved durable and repeatable far beyond the footprint I started with. My partner Lee brought retail experience, capital, and some distribution assets and processes.