Missouri just wrapped up its opening weekend of recreational cannabis sales, boasting a major start as stores look ahead and settle into a more typical routine.
The timing was already a bit of a surprise, as state regulators issued retail licenses several days earlier than initially expected, and as the weekend wrapped, the state sold more than $12.6 million worth of cannabis products, according to the Missouri Cannabis Trade Association.
Friday, Feb. 3 started off strong, as Missouri’s 198 operating dispensaries sold more than $3 million in recreational cannabis and nearly $2 million in medical cannabis. On Saturday, recreational sales saw a larger boost, hitting $3.3 million as medical sales dipped down to $1.3 million. Sunday was the lightest day of the three, as consumers purchased nearly $2.2 million in recreational cannabis and about $900,000 in medical products.
Of the $12.6 million, recreational purchases accounted for $8.5 million.
Missouri Cannabis Trade Association Executive Director Andrew Mullins gushed over the outcome in an email to MJBizDaily, stating, “Our industry was adamant that we would be ready on day one to deliver for Missourians, but I never would have imagined this type of reception.”
The high sales were due in part to the strong demand within the state, along with mass participation from existing dispensaries that were approved for comprehensive retail operations as sales launched, MJBizDaily reports.
While things started to settle down by Monday, the weekend was another story, as dispensary workers dealt with the hefty increase in traffic. Patrick O’Donnell, a budtender at Root66 South Grand in St. Louis, said the staff would generally serve about 40 paying customers each day when the store was medical only. Over the weekend, they saw upwards of 200 paying customers each day as state authorities made the switch to recreational sales.
O’Donnell also said that the staff only found out late Thursday night that Missouri could begin recreational sales on Friday, instead of the following Monday.
“Absolutely insane,” O’Donnell told Leafly. “We had lines of people from the time we opened to pretty much the minute we closed.”
The staff had taken weeks to prepare, and customers reportedly packed the store’s waiting room over the weekend, sometimes with 20 to 25 people waiting at a time, though the line never got long enough to push folks out into the cold.
Katie West, the manager of Missouri Health and Wellness Dispensary in Jefferson City, similarly nodded to the leap in sales Missouri dispensaries witnessed over the weekend, calling the increase in business “great.”
“Once that word got out, it picked up fast, and we were extremely busy open to close and then Saturday was about the same,” she told KRCG 13.
Given the significant increase in sales and additional accessibility for Missourians, West also said she feels fortunate that she’s able to help consumers and provide them relief.
“We have 90-year-olds that walk in the dispensary and look at me and say, ‘I’ve been waiting my whole life for this.’ You have no idea how excited I am for this to happen so you know a lot of us are really excited; we feel like we’re going to make history,” she said.
Similarly, St. Louis consumers like Deion Harris took advantage of the slower traffic at the start of the week. Harris said he stopped in on Friday, though he tripled his order of pre-rolls by Monday as he stopped by Root66.
“I’m really glad this day is here and that we can all buy legitimate cannabis,” he told Leafly. “It’s still mostly cheaper on the street, but you’re definitely getting what you pay for here.”
