Green Friday and the Rise of Cannabis Sales

The day after Americans celebrate how thankful they are, they rush out to retail stores in hopes of saving money and getting their holiday shopping done in one trip. This day, of course, is universally recognized as Black Friday—a day where people get into fights over toys, run into each other’s heels with shopping carts, terrorize retail employees but most importantly, is the most popular day to spend money.

While retail and online sales figures have topped the billions, cannabis also had its day last year. With more established states able to sell recreational cannabis, making it even more acceptable to call that day “Green Friday” than ever before.

Last year in an interview with Forbes, CEO of Baker, Joel Milton, noted that ever since 2014, cannabis dispensaries have been able to move more and more product on the notable sales holiday. “”On Black Friday, dispensaries can expect to move more products – and see many more customers than on a typical day,” Milton said. “In 2014-15, we saw that customers lined up around the block at 8 a.m. for the sales. In 2016, the lines are still going to be common. In fact, many of our clients have been actively telling customers to shop online through Baker during the busy season.”

But it isn’t limited just to Friday, either. USA Today reported that in 2015, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving was being referred to as “Weed Wednesday.” On that day, dispensaries saw a 55 percent increase in transactions and a 25 percent increase in order sizes, on average (according the Baker study). This was also partially due to consumers wanting cannabis-infused baked goods assumably for their Thanksgiving Day parties.

This year’s sales is bound to be the most record-breaking yet. With the rise in sales before and directly after Thanksgiving, there’s plenty to evidence pointing toward a major rise.