❌ Dispensary Closures
Tracking dispensary closures and the reasons why.
Summary.
MASSACHUSETTS.
[UPDATE] As of November 1st, 2023, there are 16 licenses that have been surrendered, not been renewed, or have been revoked by the Cannabis Control Commission.
Prices fell xx% in 2022. According to the state’s Cannabis Control Commission (CCC), flower retailed a few weeks ago for ~$229/ounce, up from $219/ounce a few months ago. But well off the $388/ounce recorded in early 2022. After hovering around $14 per gram for the first two-and-a-half years after dispensaries opened, the price of cannabis flower in Massachusetts began falling in mid-2021. Cannabis flower now costs just over $7 a gram, about half what it did two years ago. Prior to the closures of the Source and Pleasantrees, Northampton and Easthampton had a combined 17 dispensaries for a total of ~45,000 residents.
Increase in licensed operators. ~456 dispensaries and 28 more pending. In 2021, there were 194 dispensaries that generated $1.3+ billion in sales. A Leafly report shows 3 dispensaries per 100,000 residents in California, 19 dispensaries per 100,000 residents in Oregon and 19 dispensaries per 100,000 resdients in Montana.
Increased production. Massachusetts had several years of an undersupplied market, but, as production capacity outstripped demand, prices have become more competitive.
Nearby states legalize. With adult-use now legal in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York (more so the illicit market here), the State is seeing a decline in out-of-state customers.
Pleasantrees (Easthampton) closed January 2023. The dispensary opened in July 2021. However, Easthampton now has more than two dozen dispensaries. Pleasantrees has a second location in Amherst (right outside UMass Amherst) which may be next according to reporting from Daily Hampshire Gazette. The company is searching for a buyer to take over the property and cannabis licenses. Pleasantrees also had plans to set up a dispensary in Greenfield, but decided against it in January of 2022. The Michigan-based company is looking to focus its efforts on its home state and was offering buyers that want to take over its operation a no-cost acquisition (assumption of leases). With the closing of Pleasantrees, there are currently 27 dispensaries in Hampshire County and Holyoke, including 11 in Northampton and four each in Holyoke and Easthampton. The Company also planned to build a 110,000 sq ft cultivation facility in Holyoke. In an article from Green Market Report, Pleantrees said the Amherst location does $100,000-$150,000/month ($1.2M–$1.8M) of sales, but the lease is $34,901/month, while the Easthampton location does $75,000-$100,000/month ($0.9M–$1.2M) and rent is $40,580/month.
The Source (Northampton) in December 2022. The Source was the first marijuana shop in Massachusetts to shut down since the first legal adult use dispensaries opened in 2018. The Source on Pleasant Street in Northampton, was shuttered in December after 10 months in business. Additionally, cannabis tax revenue collected by Northampton continues to decline.
CALIFORNIA
Density of dispensaries in small cities (i.e.) Palm Springs have driven stores to close.
COLORADO
Declining prices and sales have continued to decline over the past year, while businesses small and large have cut back, sold off assets or closed altogether. Still, new dispensaries are opening in Denver just as fast as the old ones close, and suburban areas like Green Valley Ranch, Broomfield and Thornton have provided homes for new dispensaries. Westword’s Openings and Closings reports on closures in the State.
Clearance Cannabis Dispensary (3926 South Federal Boulevard, Englewood)
The Clinic (four metro stores, all closed now LivWell locations)
Lightshade (2215 East Mississippi Avenue, 503 Havana Street, Aurora)
TweedLeaf (three metro stores, seven across the state, all closed)