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“Despite a lot of challenging conditions, we’ve seen retail sales in Canada actually benefit,” said Stahura, president of the analyst group BDSA.
“There’s been steady (monthly), single-digit retail growth in B.C. and Alberta.”
Legal retail sales in Alberta should top $1 billion this year, she said.
A prime driver of that, she said, has been the so-called cannabis 2.0 products such as edibles and other derivatives, which only became available in Alberta last January.
That’s making this the first Christmas they’ll be stuffing stockings or showing up under the tree.
“High on that list have been THC- and CBD-infused beverages, which make up 23 per cent of the edibles market in Canada,” she said.
That compares to between five and seven per cent in the U.S., said Stahura.
And, not surprisingly, she said, “COVID has exploded the move to the online experience with pre-ordering and pickups.”
Hugely popular for Christmas shoppers are fancy packages of cigarette-style cannabis pre-rolls, said Howells.
“When I get them in, they’re gone in a half-hour or 45 minutes,” he said.
Cannabis 2.0 has led to a stash of products that are more traditional Christmas gifts.
“We’re moving (CBD/THC) bath salts and CBD tea bags,” said Mohsin Shaista, co-owner of Mt. Kushmore, at 329 11th Ave. N.E.
“We’ve got CBD creams we send to our grandpa in California.”
Since sweets are a Christmas staple, so are cannabis goodies, said Morgan Lein, owner of Frosted Acres in Manning, 460 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.
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