Online retailer Standard Dose has created a store and wellness retreat in Manhattan’s NoMad district selling CBD-based spa treatments and products. Emily Eastman reports
CBD has enjoyed particular prominence in New York and the opening of luxury wellness emporium Standard Dose is a nod to its blossoming popularity and entrance into the mainstream.
Moving from URL to IRL, the three-storey Standard Dose boutique opened in May. Its minimalist, Moorish interiors feature soft pink and earth tones with attractive archways, pale wood, stone and glossy tiling, courtesy of collaborative architecture and design studio SR Projects.
Although recreational cannabis remains illegal in the Big Apple, CBD is permitted. (CBD doesn’t get you high, whereas cannabis will.) CBD stands for cannabidiol, an active ingredient in cannabis derived from the hemp plant.
Its benefits have been widely touted – from managing pain and stress to alleviating skin problems such as eczema, acne and psoriasis – although the jury remains out on its long-term effects and benefits.
Standard Dose has made education on CBD central to the store – employees are there to advise and inform, and customers are encouraged to experiment with the products to find what works for them.
“This space is a physical manifestation of the Standard Dose brand,” says founder Anthony Saniger. “It’s a calm escape built around guiding and educating consumers on ways to soothe, balance and alleviate through CBD and plant-based wellness.
“We want to encourage an informed and honest dialogue about CBD and bring clarity by elevating the standard in a space that is still widely unregulated and misguided.”
Step beyond the entrance and discover a meditation room bathed in light from a digital skylight. After meditating, guests are invited to sample CBD-infused tea.
Up on the rooftop, free hour-long yoga classes are hosted each morning. Beneath the store is a subterranean spa offering a menu of treatments including CBD-oil massages and anti-inflammatory facials.
Future plans for the space include using it as a venue for workshops, community events and speaker sessions.
In the store itself, visitors can buy CBD patches for sleep problems, hangovers and menstrual pain, creams for aches and pains, and massage oils. 
Standard Dose’s own tinctures sit alongside goods from premier brands including Wildflower, Mineral and Plant People. (Ingredients are subjected to an extensive pre-product testing phase during which brands are required to submit laboratory results.)
Standard Dose eventually hopes to stock other botanicals and supplements and reach the parts of the wellness market beyond CBD.
