The biggest day in cannabis picked up steam this year, but it hasn’t returned to its pre-pandemic glory.

As we spent our second 4/20 locked in the house, it looks like we bought more pot this year. Last year, retailers had it rough on 4/20, but thankfully that was all on the heels of the greatest run on cannabis goods ever as Californians stocked up for lockdown.

This is, of course, two separate tales of delivery and retail. Not everywhere is able to have both. But generally, things picked back up a bit for retailers and delivery services of note absolutely crushed it.

We talked with a lot of middle management types that didn’t need the heat from their bosses for saying things weren’t back to full blast, but the data certainly seems to back those who spoke to us privately.

The data crunchers at Headset sent out the first peek at the holiday numbers for 2021. It was the largest day of cannabis sales on record in both the U.S. and Canada. Headset told us, according to the data, recreational sales on the holiday in California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington broke $42.6 million. North of the border in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan, total recreational sales reached $5.97 million CAD.

Headset said the jump in sales represented 84.5% growth in average daily sales over the previous four Tuesdays in the U.S. and 59.9% growth in Canada. Oregon had the biggest sales spike in the U.S. – that was a 130.2% increase over the previous four Tuesdays.

Headset noted that while this was all dope and the biggest pot sales day ever, it still isn’t as large as the jumps we were seeing before the pandemic. When 4/20 fell on a Saturday in 2019, recreational cannabis sales grew by a staggering 118.6% compared to the previous Saturdays.

GrowFlow had similar numbers to Headset and saw the boost from last year. They found overall revenue for retailers increased 67.8% compared to day-of sales in 2020 and the average order in 2021 was $78.70, up from $57.08 last year, representing a 37.9% increase.

According to Tradecraft Farms, their Vista, CA dispensary location made 25% more in net sales compared to last year thanks to the generally better vibe compared to the early days of the pandemic.

“Last year’s 4/20 in Vista, CA was during the first shut down and I feel like everyone was scared, rushed and stocking up for quarantine,” said Brent Walker, co-founder and president of Tradecraft Farms. “This year felt more like a real 4/20. Everyone was happy, relaxed and excited to see the store and do some shopping. It was really fun.”

In Michigan, LUME Cannabis and its 15 dispensaries told L.A. Weekly they saw a 24% increase from last year. Even wilder, you could really see how much pre-rolls took off their during the pandemic as sales were up 443% from last year.

Springbig, one of the biggest marketing platforms in the game, sent more than 12 million text messages yesterday, a 200% increase over the company’s usual daily average of about 4 million.

Between all 12 million texts sent by Springbig retailers, a total of $37,777,675 was spent as a result of the promotions, an increase of 99.28% compared to 4/20 last year. The dispensaries using the service saw a total of 416,339 visits as a result of these promotions, an increase of 89.37% compared to 4/20 last year.

But despite the ups and downs for retailers, delivery was popping. Ganja Goddess told us they were up 221% compared to 2019, while so many brick and mortars are fighting their way back to that number from two years ago.

“This year, sales were up 30% 4/19-20 over last year, with sales up 62% on Monday 4/19 specifically (compared to 13% on Tuesday 4/20),” Ganja Goddess told L.A. Weekly in an email.

Ganja Goddess said 4/20 sales were 135% higher than the previous Tuesday, and overall, there was a 43% increase in weekly sales.

 

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