Seattle Pot Shop Crawl

Has COVID ruined 4/20 for retail cannabis shops who had to offer steep discounts and merchandise in order to draw in more shoppers during the pandemic?

April 20th, 2022 should have been a big day for US cannabis companies, but after visiting 20 stores on 4/20 for the 6th year in a row, I’m anticipating disappointing numbers.

After two years of social distancing and canceled events due to COVID-19, the industry was expecting a huge celebration on the biggest cannabis holiday of the year.

After all, 420 has been the largest single day of retail cannabis sales each year since legalization- EXCEPT during the pandemic!

Strictly looking at the data, you’d expect to see the same consistent patterns on 4/20 when sales surge as customers enjoy massive discounts.

Historically, the increase in total sales was largely driven by an increase in total transaction volume, as there were more people shopping during the 4/20 holiday.

However, with consistent weekly sales equivalent to the discounts seen on 4/20, it looked like people weren’t compelled to come out and deal with the madness surrounding the 420 holiday.

In the past we’ve seen total basket volume in Canada increase by 52% on 4/20/21 and 86% in the US.

I think more people stayed home, utilized delivery services when possible, and bought their cannabis on their regular shopping day, avoiding the congested parking lots and long lines.

Retail shops used to use 420 as their black friday event to reach profitability for the year.

But it looks like CFOs & CPAs will be busy recalculating balance sheets and proforma financial statements if/when New Years Eve takes the number one slot again.

Episode 937 The #TalkingHedge...
https://youtu.be/EbyNbC-5ydk