Sales of marijuana run high for the holidays
As a stocking stuffer, product shows it’s become mainstream
It appears Santa was DENVER stuffing stockings with a little extra green this holiday season: marijuana.
Pot shops report the average purchase was up 21% in the week before Christmas, according to the marijuana-software firm Baker, which runs store customerservice systems. The most popular items: marijuana-infused edibles such as brownies and cookies.
Also near the top of the list were vaporizers, pipes and other smoking accessories, Baker reported. The company said the data hold true across the states where it serves medical and recreational stores: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington.
A rush in sales around Christmas is no surprise. The biggest sale days of the year traditionally come around Thanksgiving ’s “Weed Wednesday” and “Green Friday,” said Baker’s CEO, Joel Milton, although April 20, known as 4/20, remains the biggest marijuana sales day nationally. Other big sales days tend to come on Fridays before federal holidays, according to an analysis of Washington state sales dates by New Frontier Data.
“Holiday gift-giving is a perfect example of this once-taboo product making its way into the mainstream retail environment,” Milton said. “We have a feeling people will like cannabis gifts a lot more than a traditional … box of chocolates.”
Colorado’s biggest marijuana retailer, Native Roots, has seen significant increases in edibles sales at its ski-town stores.
The company has 17 locations, and those stores near resorts tend to draw significant numbers of tourists, CEO Josh Ginsberg said.
Edibles are a popular option to smoking marijuana because they’re discreet and can be more comfortable for empty-nest Baby Boomers trying cannabis for the first time in years.
Native Roots stores sold holiday bundles, starting with the $40-$45 “Stocking Puffer,” which included a small amount of marijuana and some joints, expanding to the “Mary Cannabis,” which included marijuana-infused candy and other items, and topping out with the “O’Chronic Tree” at nearly $300.
“We also see a huge increase in our apparel sales,” Ginsberg said. “People want something that says dispensary, that says Colorado. They want something that says they went into a dispensary on their ski vacation.”
Next Christmas could be even bigger: Last month, voters legalized recreational cannabis in California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada, and stores in at least some of those states could be up and running next year.
“We have a feeling people will like cannabis gifts a lot more than a traditional … box of chocolates.” Joel Milton, CEO of marijuana-software firm Baker