Minimalist Design of Cannabis Stores Reduces the Negative Stereotyping of Consumers
(A2025-126428)

AUTHORS

Mohammed El Hazzouri, Dalhousie University; Namita Bhatnagar, University of Manitoba; Kelley Main, University of Manitoba

ABSTRACT

This research investigates the role of minimalist retail design in mitigating negative stereotypes linked with consumers of stigmatized products, specifically cannabis. There is some evidence that minimalism is associated with product quality (Jain, Gupta, and Verma, 2023). We propose that minimalist retail spaces and their connotations of quality can buffer the perceptions of stigmatized products contained within these spaces and those that consume them. Across two experiments we overall show that a cannabis store designed with minimalist principles lowers the negative stereotypes associated with its customers compared to one that is not. In fact, in one of the experiments we demonstrate that enhanced product quality perceptions resulting from the minimalist design are responsible for lowering the negativity of customer-related stereotypes.