Green Wednesday, Black Friday See Cannabis Sales of $100M Each

Green Wednesday and Black Friday saw record U.S. sales that marked the second and third highest-grossing days for the cannabis industry ever, Akerna reported in November.

Retail cannabis sellers hauled in nearly $100 million in sales on the two days sandwiching Thanksgiving, according to the enterprise software company.

Akerna, developer of a technology infrastructure, ecosystem and compliance engine for the global cannabis industry, said that Green Wednesday (Nov. 24) brought in $98.2 million and Black Friday (Nov. 26) brought in $99 million for dispensaries and other cannabis retailers in the U.S. The largest day for cannabis sales in 2021 was April 20, or 4.20, the unofficial cannabis consumption holiday. 

The four-day period surrounding the Thanksgiving holiday brought in a total of $254.7 million in cannabis sales. The final figure was not far off Akerna’s pre-Thanksgiving prediction of $251 million in sales.

“Green Wednesday earned its nickname from historically high cannabis sales and this year proved the same. Cannabis shoppers headed to dispensaries in droves on both Black Friday and Green Wednesday, bucking national mainstream retail trends,” ,Akerna analyst James Ahrendt said.

While cannabis broke records Thanksgiving week, the rest of the retail industry didn’t fare as well. Overall retail sales on Black Friday dropped 28.3 percent compared to 2019 levels, according to a Sensormatic report cited by CNBC.

Akerna’s data showed a 20 percent increase in Black Friday cannabis sales in 2021 as compared to 2019.

Due to low in-store traffic due to Covid pandemic restrictions, Black Friday data from 2020 was omitted from the comparison.