A GREEN CHRISTMAS?
Pot shops popular with gift buyers
The forecast calls for snow over the weekend, but local cannabis retailers expect more than a few people will be celebrating a green Christmas next week, no matter the weather.
While supplies remain extremely limited two months after legalization, retailers in Saskatoon and Warman are reporting an uptick in customers buying weed and accessories as gifts.
Geoff Conn, who opened the Pot Shack on Eighth Street late last month, said the popularity of alcohol as a Christmas gift led him to conclude the market for marijuana could be significant.
He said that led him and his staff to put together accessory kits that can be easily given away, and discount one of the “12 Strains of Christmas” each day during the lead-up to Christmas.
“I think people are opening up quite a bit more since legalization in October … There’s a lot of people out there that are enjoying legalization. Whether it’s Christmas or not, I think they’re having fun,” he said.
Customers at 5Buds Cannabis, which opened its doors in Warman on Dec. 1, are also stocking up on Christmas gifts, according to the company’s general manager of retail sales.
“Literally, two years ago when I first started looking at cannabis is when I first started thinking that this is going to be a gift-giving industry,” Corey Tyacke said with a laugh.
Local retailers generally agree that pre-rolled joints have been in particularly high demand, likely in part for the ease of giving them away, since recreational cannabis was legalized on Oct. 17.
“Lots of people are buying a pre-roll for a friend or a gram for a friend,” he said.
Tyacke said 5Buds has also done a brisk trade in gift baskets filled with accessories, branded clothing and “roast and toast” clay coffee mugs that incorporate a pipe into the handle.
He said the best-seller seems to be Kushkards — greeting cards with a pair of elastic bands inside that can hold a joint.
“It’s kind of hinging on the gagish gifts, but not in that way. It’s like, ‘We all know you smoke, and I’m going to buy this for you to prove that I know you smoke,’” Tyacke added.
Cierra Sieben-chuback, owner of Saskatoon’s other operating cannabis store, Living Skies Cannabis on Third Avenue, said she has noticed some of her customers buying expensive glass pipes and bongs as presents for themselves.
However, it’s not always easy to tell whether customers are buying cannabis with the intention of giving it away, or simply to refill their own waning stashes, she said.
“But I know some people, I think they’ve been grabbing pre-rolled joints as little stocking stuffers, which is just so cool.”
Legal cannabis is still in its infancy, but all three local retailers are optimistic that weed will one day be as easy to give away as a bottle of wine or liquor — a consistently popular gift during the holiday season.
“I could probably say safely that there are more alcohol drinkers than cannabis users (but) I think as we move forward in time, more people are going to be open to trying or consuming,” Conn said.