Coworking with Ilya Shmidt

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Ilya Shmidt is VP of sales and retail operations at The Flowery, a cannabis retailer operating 19 locations in New York and Florida.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in retail? I help people get their weed—legally, safely, and with the best experience possible.

One thing we can’t guess about your job from your LinkedIn profile? Before building cannabis brands and diving into cannabis retail, I actually started in accounting. Numbers and spreadsheets were my original grind; now I use that same precision to scale operations and build high-functioning teams.

What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on? Launching The Flowery in New York has easily been one of the most exciting and rewarding challenges and in just over a year, we’ve become the largest cannabis retailer in the state. Breaking into a new market—especially one as competitive and high-profile as NYC—pushed our team to innovate and move fast, while still maintaining the culture and quality we’ve built in Florida since 2018.

Which emerging retail trend are you most excited about right now, and why? Drive-thru cannabis. It brings us closer to the kind of instant gratification people expect from modern retail, and it’s something that’s been held back by regulation. Seeing the industry slowly embrace it feels like progress—both for the consumer and for the normalization of cannabis overall.

What’s your go-to coffee order? I keep it simple—just a good cup of tea.

Worst piece of advice you’ve received? Going to college will get you further in life.

What was your favorite retail product when you were 15, and what’s your favorite retail product now? When I was 15: Topps Chrome basketball trading cards. Now: Sneakers. I find myself buying more dad sneakers now for better back support. A close second would be Mountain Valley Spring Water!