Cannabis retail sales in Canada hit a new monthly record last December, totaling over 295 million across the country
Sales eclipsed the previous monthly record of 273 million euros and rose nearly 14% from the total sales of 260 million euros recorded in November, according to the latest figures from Statistics Canada presented in Canadian dollars.
Ontario, which now has more than 1,600 retail stores, recorded sales of more than 118 million, a 35% year-over-year increase. It is followed by Alberta, which recorded sales of 51.3 million euros and British Columbia which recorded sales of 43.8 million euros.
For the year, total sales exceeded C$4.5 billion (€3.1 billion) nationwide, an increase of almost 18% over the previous year.
Ontario Driving the Cannabis Economy
In October, theOntario Cannabis Store (OCS) released its latest quarterly report for the 2021-22 fiscal year, which runs from January 1 to March 31, 2022, and noted that the pace of retail store openings had slowed compared to the previous quarter.
There were approximately 1,500 stores open at the end of the fourth quarter, with stores operating in 233 municipalities across the province. According to this report, on average, Ontarians live within 4 kilometers of a cannabis retail store.
This is despite the fact that a number of major cities, including Mississauga and its nearly 900,000 residents, ban cannabis retailers from operating. The city is one of 66 Ontario municipalities that have opted out of selling cannabis at retail, but that may soon change.
Earlier this month, the Toronto Sun reported that a city councilor had asked the city to submit a report on lifting the ban. Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie also said she would vote to open cannabis sales in Mississauga, as she has done in the past.
While the city has no retail store, nearby Toronto has over 400 stores.
According to the OCS report, more than 96% of sales in the quarter were made in stores of the type brick-and-mortar, with the rest of the sales taking place online. Dried flowers accounted for around 50% of total sales, followed by pre-rolls (15%), vapes (16%), and edibles and concentrates (5% each).
At the time of the report’s release, the top retailers in the province by number of stores were Tokyo Smoke (60), Spiritleaf (43), Sessions (42), Fire & Flower (37) and True North (36).
A report released last May found that Ontario could accommodate around 2,000 cannabis stores to reach its “optimal level.”
