This past Thanksgiving was the first since sales of recreational cannabis was legalized in Colorado, and dispensaries eagerly got into the full swing of an American retail tradition: Black Friday. For an industry so adept at puns and plays on words to keep their happy customers giggling, their ad campaigns were no different.
It was a “Danksgiving” in Denver as “Green Friday” sales suddenly made reggies (reg weed, brick weed) the more expensive option—at least for the day. (Disclaimer: even if it is cheaper, we don’t advocate buying Mexican reg weed; support American business!)
Also for sale: $50 ounces, discounted pre-rolls and cheap single-serving pumpkin pies that you should not share with the youngsters were on the menu as bud-tenders scrambled to keep up with their orders.
“We were expecting a very quiet day, but when everyone else jumped on it, we definitely didn’t want to be left behind,” Ryan Pratt, the manager of Boulder’s Helping Hands Herbals, told USA Today. We wish we could have been there at the moment of inception for the idea of “Green Friday;” I’m sure the words “why not?” were on somebody’s lips. In an industry that’s fighting to become mainstream, why wouldn’t dispensaries offer sales on Black Friday?
The budding business of cannabis knows to just grab just the good parts of mainstream retail, and hopefully none of the bad. One dispensary was offering discounts for people who brought in canned food donations for a local homeless shelter. Just compare that to Walmart, which puts up food donation boxes for its own employees.
