The surge since May ties into a stronger effort to close unlicensed dispensaries. Weekly sales have surged 75% since May 25th. We picked up on this three months ago in the NCV weekly newsletter, where we pointed out that New York cannabis was booming.
Three months ago, we reported that there were 144 adult-use stores in the state, and now there are 210. The store growth has been strong both in the NYC and Long Island area, where 94 stores are now open (4 on Long Island), and upstate NY, where there are now 116 open.
In Q3, total adult-use sales reached $250 million and rose 54% sequentially and 357% from a year earlier. The New York market is growing, but it has a lot more room to grow. It is the fourth largest state by population, with about half of the population of California. That state is not exactly booming, but its Q3 total sales were estimated by BDSA to be $1.26 billion, about 5X the level of New York sales. New York is growing strongly, while California sales shrank 1% from a year earlier.
New York continues to offer its consumers a better market, and there are plenty of public companies that are serving it. The public companies dominated the small medical cannabis market, but several are starting to build up their efforts in adult-use. Curaleaf and Green Thumb Industries each operate 3 adult-use stores, while Acreage, Cannabist, Cresco Labs, iAnthus and Vireo don’t operate any yet. MedMen, which is bankrupt no longer operates in the state. Riv Capital owns Etain, and it has 3 adult-use stores now. Pharmacann, which has an investment from Cronos Group, operates 1 too (Verilife).
https://www.newcannabisventures.com/new-york-cannabis-sales-continue-to-surge/