Top 5 Data Insights: Labor Day Weekend Sales

We’re in no rush to say goodbye to summer, but, as we head into Labor Day weekend, let’s review how the cannabis industry has fared during Labor Day weekends past and other key summer holiday periods:

1. Labor Day weekend has been a historically big for sales in the dispensary channel. In 2018, sales between Friday 8/31 and Monday 9/3 totaled $81M across states tracked by BDSA (up from $75.6M in 2017, and greater than the $74.4M generated across Memorial Day weekend 2018). This year, MDW sales reached $83M – setting a high bar for LDW 2019.

2. Last year, the Friday before Labor Day was the biggest sales day of the weekend, generating $25.7M in sales (just shy of the $26.2M total on the Friday before July 4^th, which fell on a Wednesday in 2018).

3. And in general, pre-holiday weekend Fridays during the summer are big sales days: The Friday before Memorial Day, Friday (and Saturday) before Fourth of July, and the Friday before Labor Day were the top sales days between May 1^st –September 30^th Thus far in summer 2019, the Friday before MDW has been the second-highest sales day, with the Friday before (and day before) July 4^th a bit lower down the list.

4. Across state markets, pre-Labor Day sales tend to be roughly the same or lower than pre-4^th sales: Last year, CA sales going into Labor Day were $2M less than Friday before July 4^th Colorado was the only state tracked that saw substantially greater sales ($1.2M more) heading into LDW vs. the Friday before July 4^th.

5. Flower ($10.3M) and Concentrates ($8.5M) were top categories sold heading into LDW last year – in line with general category trends in the market overall. However, Concentrates sales increased by $2M on the Friday before Labor Day in 2018 vs. 2017 – whereas Flower sales decreased by roughly the same amount.