Store locator integrations
Building native WordPress location experiences on top of external cannabis retail data.
The problem
Retail and product availability data in the cannabis industry often lives in specialized third-party platforms rather than inside WordPress.
A store locator needs to consume that external data while still behaving like a native part of the website.
The challenge is not simply displaying locations on a map. The integration also needs to keep the surrounding website independent from the structure of a single data provider.
The approach
I built a custom WordPress store locator integration using Hoodie as the external data source.
The locator consumes retailer data from the external platform and presents it through the site's own WordPress experience instead of sending users into a separate third-party interface.
Multiple data sources
I later worked on a variant of the store locator using the Weedmaps Public API as the source of retailer data.
The user-facing purpose remained similar, but the upstream provider and data model were different.
This required adapting the integration to a different external API while preserving the surrounding WordPress experience.
Why this matters
Building the locator around external data rather than hardcoding retailer information makes the website easier to integrate with the systems already used by cannabis brands and retailers.
It also demonstrates a broader integration pattern I use frequently: keep the website experience native while treating third-party platforms as data and service providers.
Technologies
Live example
ProGro Cannabis uses the store locator integration as part of its website experience.