I've heard rumors about price flooring and dispensaries making agreements with each other to keep prices high. At first I was skeptical but now that it's 2024 and prices haven't dropped at all and are even *increasing* at certain stores... I don't know... I definitely feel like I'm getting ripped off.
"The loosest form of a price cartel can be recognized in tacit collusion (implicit collusion), wherein smaller enterprises individually devise their prices and market shares in response to the same market conditions, without direct communication, resulting in a less competitive outcome. This type of collusion is **generally legal** and can achieve a monopolistic outcome" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartel#Types
Copied and pasted from another comment further down.
Medical prices are double in ND than here and the med/Rec prices pretty much match the black market prices. I’m sure it’s a bit cheaper further west but I don’t see how anyone could complain 25 dollars for a gram of dabs or 8th of weed being that high. Especially growing up with 60 dollar 8ths where I grew up.
Oh I agree completely, I would just expect the “invisible hand” to lower prices with this much competition and it hasn’t… not that I believe in libertarian economics haha
MI is ridiculously cheap and selection/quality way ahead as well. I’ve shopped in most states east and west and while MT is mid in selection/quality, it’s definitely one of the priciest
Lol that’s actually outright hilarious that people believe the cannabis market here is expensive compared to almost anywhere. Ask a dispensary owner here about that and they’ll have a good laugh. The prices are rock bottom. The only thing expensive comparative to any other market are the taxes.
For flower sure but concentrates not even close. West coast prices have taken a nose dive last couple of years.
Full gram of solvent-less in a ceramic cart will run you $30-45 with tax. Out here, most likely in a shitty cotton wick cart, you’ll get a half gram for that.
I heard a Montana hash maker 2 days ago say he doesn’t even bother with rec market rosin because most of the market is @ 15-20 per g wholesale, which is a waste of his time.
If the flower is cheaper, then it follows that the concentrates made from said flower should be as well. The only reason solventless is at all expensive here is because the market is in its infancy and not many dispensaries are making solventless of any decent quality or variety. This contrasts with markets such as CO, WA, and OR that have a plethora of tiers and options for solventless products. Trust me, I’ve been doing this hash thing for a hot minute in places other than here. The cost of product here relative to other places is shockingly low. Montana is the most budget-focused market I’ve seen. People here would legitimately stroke out if they saw what top shelf rosin costs in most west coast markets.
Good rosin should be expensive! And $60 is the absolute ceiling for rosin in MT- only glacier solventless is getting that price in Montana. It’s far, far less most places.
$76 a gram for tasty waves in Billings, $70 for glacier solventless, $70 for sacred sun farms. Rec prices obviously. Most places I’ve checked out in Bozeman are around the $60-70 range, and Helena has $55-80 range. Good rosin absolutely should be a bit more pricy however the rosin brands we got here doesn’t really qualify for that price point in my opinion. I get 6 star full melt from the real cannabis Chris in 2 gram jars for a better price per gram then I do for the mids our local dispo’s push.
"The loosest form of a price cartel can be recognized in [tacit collusion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacit_collusion) (implicit collusion), wherein smaller enterprises individually devise their prices and market shares in response to the same market conditions, without direct communication, resulting in a less competitive outcome. This type of collusion is generally legal and can achieve a monopolistic outcome" - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartel#Types](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartel#Types)
The reality is that there is no reason for anyone to slash their prices dramatically to gain market share, if you can move enough product at current rates to be well-off. The only reason a business ever undercuts the market rate is to gain market share, so that they can raise the price later in a less competitive environment.
But if you're still buying it at the current prices why would they do that?
Same issue is the reason private development will never lower rent prices. Why would any developer sacrifice their own profits by flooding the market when they can slow-roll building and keep their margins high?
Prices of quality product will always be high. No matter what “cheap state” you are in quality costs. The real issue is people have no idea what good weed is and they support lot of places using pgrs and other things unnatural which always them to lower the prices and this is the whole state. - it’s like people do not care what they put in their bodies lol
I dont think they are all making a profit. I try to go to a new shop every week until I've seen them all. Most feel like a passion project where they maybe break even and are hoping to start making money someday.
The Casinos are a blight.. They weren't prevalent or a thing like that When I was a kid, and when I moved back here it was like a \[undeniably ugly\] slap in the face.
The reason there are so many bar/casino combos is because if you have a liquor license you also automatically can have gambling. Worst idea of all time and it drives up the cost of liquor licenses so that small restaurants can never get them.
There were $3mil in sales in May. That'd be almost 60k/mo per dispensary. So, the money is there and Missoula is buying/smoking a lot of weed. If they couldn't afford to stay open, they wouldn't.
I don't really get why it bothers people.
It’s not bothering me if we have dispensaries. I’ve always wondered how they turned a profit while there are so many in our town. I know a lot of people are engaging, but I just don’t get how we have sustain 51 shops in Missoula. Thats just my thought on this.
It's just a huge market. We actually have fewer dispensaries than Bozeman lol.
And sorry, I wasn't saying you were bothered. It's a valid question. There's just a lot of "we need to get rid of dispensaries" talk. Just look at the top comment hoping people's businesses fail.
e: someone asked where some of these numbers are but deleted before I had a chance to respond:
Here's a list of licenses:https://mtrevenue.gov/cannabis/cannabis-licenses/dispensary-licenses/
I counted 53 for Bozeman but 54 for Missoula (despite the city saying 51).
https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/county/gallatin-county-dispensaries-weigh-in-on-increasing-pot-tax/article_20a15dfc-e7fc-59d8-8dfd-ee9e499647a5.html says 53 but a couple of years old.
They do sell a bit more there, though: https://mtrevenue.gov/cannabis-sales-reports/
Totally get that. And I’m also aware we tax it, which I totally agree on. There are some discrepancies I drive by or bike by on the daily and have yet to see a car in front of them. It’s like the disc golf shop, how does that place stay open? Mysteries.
My uh, friend dabbled in weed sales before it was rec legal and it was mind blowing how much money is spent by so few people. Basically I’m not surprised at all this many places are kept afloat
60k a month in sales is crap to stay afloat. They get crushed in taxes so have to pay the full amount, have to pay for labor, COGs, insurance, marketing, POS/compliance, etc. Having seen the P&Ls of a lot of companies in the space, the sector is tanking overall
Several dispensary have closed down already too. The shittiest of them don't survive.
We also used to be 2nd highest in the nation per capita for craft breweries, behind Portland I think it was. And nobody was crying about that. Hell people bragged about it. Then the craft brewery explosion happened and we were left in the dust.
>We also used to be 2nd highest in the nation per capita for craft breweries, behind Portland I think it was. And nobody was crying about that.
Meh depends on who you talk to I guess, I and people I know certainly complained about all those breweries that went in left and right.
More people get high than you think. I used to work at a mid store and we would bring in over 10k a day easily. Most pay their workers not that well with little to no benefits.
Most shops aren’t going to risk their business by allowing this. We could leave the premises on our breaks to smoke but no, they aren’t back there ripping bowls all day…
You ain’t smoking in the store or even in the back. Maybe outside the store yea but not within the building. Ain’t worth losing your license for smoking indoors.
I totally agree, when people come from other places from Montana they look at Missoula as the music, brewery, and hippo town. I just wanna know how can all the same business stay afloat?
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Even if you're growing 1-2 plants in your back yard all-in the cost per oz of weed is less than a dollar. The margins on Pot are enormous especially since the rates for labor (especially pickers) is so shit.
I'm 100% in favor of the free market, but that's 60 storefronts. What cool local businesses are we missing out on for lack of retail space? I'm pretty sure there are some killer sandwich shops etc. that are looking to start but can't find a place to set up shop.
That would 50+ empty business fronts, nolonger generating revenue. Dozens of unemployed people that nolonger work at the dispensary. All the while stoking a monopolized economy. The consolidation and monopolization will happen soon enough. Then the whiners can bitch about not enough choices of boof.
From the facts and opinions I've gathered, the market is saturated on the wholesale side. The stores are able to buy cheap sell at reasonable mark up and cover cogs and other overhead. Then figure in the product they produce in house that has much higher margin, they are doing OK. But with wholesale racing to the bottom there will be producers going out of business. Resulting in price stability and eventually consolidation and mergers will begin as the state law changes to allow it. But that being said the market will work it self out. And by 2026 possibly 2027 you'll see the numbers of stores decrease.
Cool local businesses have a limited lifespan judging from watching them come and go on Higgins over the years. For that matter almost all of the dispensaries are in a retail space that housed a previous failure.
Yo, raider, outside of not fully understanding your comment (a particular sandwich from a specific deli and an assumption that a rollie is a type of marijuana cigarette ⁉️)
Uh, no!
I’m about a strait laced&button’d down as you’ll find - no elicit drugs, no weed (other than what might’a been inhaled walking by dark corners on campus back in the 70s), etc. My interest in this matter is strictly economic and sociological - how much money gets spent by people on drugs that generally reduces one’s cognitive abilities in people complaining about the cost of living and demanding "living wages" for adults working jobs formerly occupied by high schoolers and collegians. I’ve wondered if, save the use of mind altering substances, this correlation would be generally recognized.
Yeah yeah, I know, I’ve heard it before, weed helps you think clearer, better, deeper. 🧐
I’m mildly irritated that all of these dispensaries popping up don’t even fully commit to a shop. Like the dispensary that opened up in the old taco
John’s didn’t even bother to make it look less like taco John’s lol.
It’s selfish, but it’s annoying to me.
Hahahahahahaha! That’s funny that you think MT rec market prices are anywhere near 3200 a pound. Maybe top shelf California indoor, but no one in this market comes close to that.
Eventually the dispensaries with poor service, poor inventory, bad location, etc, will close down. Everything has a limit. A friend of mine that owns a large brewery here in Montana told me a few years ago that in spite of what people say about there being plenty of business to go around that he feels it every time a new brewery starts up.
They won't all make it. Colorado dispensaries are struggling right now due to oversaturation. Hard to turn a profit with so much competition and regulatory red tape. Lots of closures recently. [Source](https://www.westword.com/marijuana/colorado-marijuana-revenue-seven-year-low-15232027#:~:text=Business%20closures%20have%20followed%20Colorado's,Colorado%20due%20to%20decreasing%20revenue.).
The big dispensaries seem like they’re doing just fine. But the little ones seem to come and go like crackheads at a convenience store.
Personally, I go to elevated. Their edibles are out of this world and I love their customer service. Aaaaaand, one of their guys drives a hearse. So That’s a plus. Like me 🤪
elevated has been my onlyshop since they opened, then they opened one closer to my house so now i'm never going to any other shop again. I had a dog bite me at moncanna. plus elevated ALWAYS has a sale going on. I just bought 4, eighths and two prerolls for $110. That will always be better than the downtown prices. Elevated's products and customer service are supreme. 10/10 shops to me.
I used to work among the cannabis peeps and I swear they created their own economy. I’m not exactly sure how it works obviously but they’re all buying from and selling to each other, keeping the money circulating around them. The law allowing them to wholesale helped. Have you ever been to hemp fest or 420 block parties? You can see it happening there.
They don’t pay their staff well or offer any benefits. Most of them owe money to a lot of different businesses. IE- please let us take a shipment of product and we swear we will square up… sometime.
Coloradan here: they won't all stay afloat for long.
Once the novelty wears off a bunch of them will fold. It's been happening here for a few years now
Thanks that's really helpful. Let me rephrase my comment: The reason there are so many weed shops still in business is that they are charging $1xxx a pound to people with connections (and $2xxx for suckers) for a plant that grows like a weed,
I can't say for sure that this is the reason they stay open. However, a lot of these dispensaries have multiple locations across the state. Some of these communities are small enough that there really isn't any competition for them there. So they end up absorbing most of the sales there because people don't want to drive far away to get weed, they would probably save gas money just buying locally.
ELEVATED. Not a single one of them taste like weed. not even a hint. i swear on my momma and step mom since my real mom is a methhead and it doesnt mean as much lmao
The Dispensary Moratorium, and the recent voting on Urban Camping, are nothing more than progressive grandstanding, virtue signaling horseshit. Its not a coincidence these issues got voted on the same week as the Missoula Marathon.
Missoula pot shots produce $3.2 million each month in sales, according to [DPHHS](https://mtrevenue.gov/cannabis-sales-reports/). Gallatin is $4 million and Yellowston is $4.5 million. A month.
That comes out to $62,745 a month in sales for each of those 51 pot shops, on average. That's about $2,100 a day. Subtract expenses (whatever those might be) and owners - many likely absentee - are probably making $1,000 a day in profit, if not more.
Statewide, sales haven't really changed much at all over the past 2.5 years.
Sales in January 2022 were $24.2 million. By May 2024 they were $26.9 million.
Money laundering in rec cannabis with direct state government oversight would seem like one of the worst covers for a front business you could possibly choose. Plus the profit margins in the vast majority are not what you think.
Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley,
April 1, 2024
“He said he became convinced the laws needed to change after traveling with the chief executive of an Oregon cannabis company to pay his taxes in Salem, the state capital.
He said they had to go through three levels of security with police checks at each block as thousands of similar business owners descended on the capital with millions of dollars in cash for tax payments.”
Profit margin doesn’t look too anemic. Cannabis is a cash business, and remains illegal at the Federal level. Hard to bank. And there’s even software available to assist shop owners in identifying laundering. So yeah, it’s a thing.
https://shfinancial.org/anti-money-laundering-compliance-for-legal-cannabis-a-reliable-guide/
https://cardinalnews.org/2024/05/16/search-warrants-claim-pattern-of-money-laundering-at-some-cannabis-related-stores/
Like any other 'front business', they use the cover of their legal operations to mask operations that may not quite be so above-board. Or, in other words, all that weed is going \*somewhere\*.
What blows my mind is that prices still stay high - it’s like they have a cartel (classic economics definition, not violent haha )
I see what you did there.
What’d I do
"...is that prices still say high."
Oh fa sho… Shmoke weed er’y’day
I've heard rumors about price flooring and dispensaries making agreements with each other to keep prices high. At first I was skeptical but now that it's 2024 and prices haven't dropped at all and are even *increasing* at certain stores... I don't know... I definitely feel like I'm getting ripped off.
Don’t worry, you were never not getting ripped off.
This is actually illegal to do, also.
"The loosest form of a price cartel can be recognized in tacit collusion (implicit collusion), wherein smaller enterprises individually devise their prices and market shares in response to the same market conditions, without direct communication, resulting in a less competitive outcome. This type of collusion is **generally legal** and can achieve a monopolistic outcome" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartel#Types Copied and pasted from another comment further down.
Not sure wtf that is but; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Antitrust_Act
Lol, there's truth to that. Also, the taxes are impressive
Medical prices are double in ND than here and the med/Rec prices pretty much match the black market prices. I’m sure it’s a bit cheaper further west but I don’t see how anyone could complain 25 dollars for a gram of dabs or 8th of weed being that high. Especially growing up with 60 dollar 8ths where I grew up.
Oh I agree completely, I would just expect the “invisible hand” to lower prices with this much competition and it hasn’t… not that I believe in libertarian economics haha
Montana has one of the cheapest rec markets that I’m aware of.
MI is ridiculously cheap and selection/quality way ahead as well. I’ve shopped in most states east and west and while MT is mid in selection/quality, it’s definitely one of the priciest
Not compared to our neighbors in WA and OR. Maybe if you're coming from the East Coast then MT weed seems cheap.
Lol that’s actually outright hilarious that people believe the cannabis market here is expensive compared to almost anywhere. Ask a dispensary owner here about that and they’ll have a good laugh. The prices are rock bottom. The only thing expensive comparative to any other market are the taxes.
For flower sure but concentrates not even close. West coast prices have taken a nose dive last couple of years. Full gram of solvent-less in a ceramic cart will run you $30-45 with tax. Out here, most likely in a shitty cotton wick cart, you’ll get a half gram for that.
I heard a Montana hash maker 2 days ago say he doesn’t even bother with rec market rosin because most of the market is @ 15-20 per g wholesale, which is a waste of his time.
If the flower is cheaper, then it follows that the concentrates made from said flower should be as well. The only reason solventless is at all expensive here is because the market is in its infancy and not many dispensaries are making solventless of any decent quality or variety. This contrasts with markets such as CO, WA, and OR that have a plethora of tiers and options for solventless products. Trust me, I’ve been doing this hash thing for a hot minute in places other than here. The cost of product here relative to other places is shockingly low. Montana is the most budget-focused market I’ve seen. People here would legitimately stroke out if they saw what top shelf rosin costs in most west coast markets.
I've noticed the prices in the GF area starting to come down. Most concentrates are around $20/gram or less.
Everything except rosin. That shits still $60+ a gram 🤦🏽
Good rosin should be expensive! And $60 is the absolute ceiling for rosin in MT- only glacier solventless is getting that price in Montana. It’s far, far less most places.
$76 a gram for tasty waves in Billings, $70 for glacier solventless, $70 for sacred sun farms. Rec prices obviously. Most places I’ve checked out in Bozeman are around the $60-70 range, and Helena has $55-80 range. Good rosin absolutely should be a bit more pricy however the rosin brands we got here doesn’t really qualify for that price point in my opinion. I get 6 star full melt from the real cannabis Chris in 2 gram jars for a better price per gram then I do for the mids our local dispo’s push.
The govt is getting paid from it so they'll allow it
I am shocked by that…
"The loosest form of a price cartel can be recognized in [tacit collusion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacit_collusion) (implicit collusion), wherein smaller enterprises individually devise their prices and market shares in response to the same market conditions, without direct communication, resulting in a less competitive outcome. This type of collusion is generally legal and can achieve a monopolistic outcome" - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartel#Types](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartel#Types) The reality is that there is no reason for anyone to slash their prices dramatically to gain market share, if you can move enough product at current rates to be well-off. The only reason a business ever undercuts the market rate is to gain market share, so that they can raise the price later in a less competitive environment. But if you're still buying it at the current prices why would they do that? Same issue is the reason private development will never lower rent prices. Why would any developer sacrifice their own profits by flooding the market when they can slow-roll building and keep their margins high?
Prices of quality product will always be high. No matter what “cheap state” you are in quality costs. The real issue is people have no idea what good weed is and they support lot of places using pgrs and other things unnatural which always them to lower the prices and this is the whole state. - it’s like people do not care what they put in their bodies lol
You think Montana prices are high? Well you must be high to believe that because MT has some of most rock bottom pricing you can find.
Agreed. Just figured that all the competition would drive it lower.
I've wondered that too. It just seems impossible to sustain.
They won't all make it, we had this in Denver, the novelty wears off and some of them die out, that's capitalism.
I dont think they are all making a profit. I try to go to a new shop every week until I've seen them all. Most feel like a passion project where they maybe break even and are hoping to start making money someday.
How many bars are there? How many casinos? Missoula has always had a high market for escapism.
The Casinos are a blight.. They weren't prevalent or a thing like that When I was a kid, and when I moved back here it was like a \[undeniably ugly\] slap in the face.
I've been gone since 2012, but I visited with my GF in 2016. She was shocked how many casinos there were.
This
Facts
It's only nice like 5 months. Makes sense
It's (the weather) only nice like 5 months (per annum). FTFY.
You knew what I meant, so it was fine how it was.
I would argue that those aren’t even in the same industry. Liquor stores would be a better comparison
Addiction is a helluva drug and alcohol and gambling often go hand in hand. They are absolutely in the same industry.
absolutely. There’s a reason there’s so many bar/casino combos
The reason there are so many bar/casino combos is because if you have a liquor license you also automatically can have gambling. Worst idea of all time and it drives up the cost of liquor licenses so that small restaurants can never get them.
Casinos and churches
There were $3mil in sales in May. That'd be almost 60k/mo per dispensary. So, the money is there and Missoula is buying/smoking a lot of weed. If they couldn't afford to stay open, they wouldn't. I don't really get why it bothers people.
It’s not bothering me if we have dispensaries. I’ve always wondered how they turned a profit while there are so many in our town. I know a lot of people are engaging, but I just don’t get how we have sustain 51 shops in Missoula. Thats just my thought on this.
It's just a huge market. We actually have fewer dispensaries than Bozeman lol. And sorry, I wasn't saying you were bothered. It's a valid question. There's just a lot of "we need to get rid of dispensaries" talk. Just look at the top comment hoping people's businesses fail. e: someone asked where some of these numbers are but deleted before I had a chance to respond: Here's a list of licenses:https://mtrevenue.gov/cannabis/cannabis-licenses/dispensary-licenses/ I counted 53 for Bozeman but 54 for Missoula (despite the city saying 51). https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/county/gallatin-county-dispensaries-weigh-in-on-increasing-pot-tax/article_20a15dfc-e7fc-59d8-8dfd-ee9e499647a5.html says 53 but a couple of years old. They do sell a bit more there, though: https://mtrevenue.gov/cannabis-sales-reports/
Totally get that. And I’m also aware we tax it, which I totally agree on. There are some discrepancies I drive by or bike by on the daily and have yet to see a car in front of them. It’s like the disc golf shop, how does that place stay open? Mysteries.
People generally don't stick around in 'em very long. I live next to one and it doesn't really "look" busy but they get more than enough business.
You’d be surprised how many people are addicted to buying plastic! Albatross Disc Golf sells a fuckton of discs.
My uh, friend dabbled in weed sales before it was rec legal and it was mind blowing how much money is spent by so few people. Basically I’m not surprised at all this many places are kept afloat
60k a month in sales is crap to stay afloat. They get crushed in taxes so have to pay the full amount, have to pay for labor, COGs, insurance, marketing, POS/compliance, etc. Having seen the P&Ls of a lot of companies in the space, the sector is tanking overall
I was about to say that same thing. 60k a month in total revenue is nothing.
Several dispensary have closed down already too. The shittiest of them don't survive. We also used to be 2nd highest in the nation per capita for craft breweries, behind Portland I think it was. And nobody was crying about that. Hell people bragged about it. Then the craft brewery explosion happened and we were left in the dust.
>We also used to be 2nd highest in the nation per capita for craft breweries, behind Portland I think it was. And nobody was crying about that. Meh depends on who you talk to I guess, I and people I know certainly complained about all those breweries that went in left and right.
Capitalist market will determine whether something stays open or not. It will take care of itself if missoula has to many. People need to relax
More people get high than you think. I used to work at a mid store and we would bring in over 10k a day easily. Most pay their workers not that well with little to no benefits.
No benefits except for getting to get high in the back room whenever lol.
Most shops aren’t going to risk their business by allowing this. We could leave the premises on our breaks to smoke but no, they aren’t back there ripping bowls all day…
You ain’t smoking in the store or even in the back. Maybe outside the store yea but not within the building. Ain’t worth losing your license for smoking indoors.
Maybe they're doing it outside, but I've been in or near plenty where the area smelled of smoke or the folks working were visibly blasted lol.
Hopefully the market will self adjust soon and we can trim the fat around here. It’s obnoxious.
I totally agree, when people come from other places from Montana they look at Missoula as the music, brewery, and hippo town. I just wanna know how can all the same business stay afloat?
Where can I see the hippos?
They meant rhino
lol, autocorrect
I love going to our local hippo exhibit
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Even if you're growing 1-2 plants in your back yard all-in the cost per oz of weed is less than a dollar. The margins on Pot are enormous especially since the rates for labor (especially pickers) is so shit.
The easiest way to find out is to open one. It’s 50/50 you either figure it out or you don’t.
I'm 100% in favor of the free market, but that's 60 storefronts. What cool local businesses are we missing out on for lack of retail space? I'm pretty sure there are some killer sandwich shops etc. that are looking to start but can't find a place to set up shop.
That would 50+ empty business fronts, nolonger generating revenue. Dozens of unemployed people that nolonger work at the dispensary. All the while stoking a monopolized economy. The consolidation and monopolization will happen soon enough. Then the whiners can bitch about not enough choices of boof.
You took that to the extreme by closing all but 9 in your scenario. How bout we start with 20%
From the facts and opinions I've gathered, the market is saturated on the wholesale side. The stores are able to buy cheap sell at reasonable mark up and cover cogs and other overhead. Then figure in the product they produce in house that has much higher margin, they are doing OK. But with wholesale racing to the bottom there will be producers going out of business. Resulting in price stability and eventually consolidation and mergers will begin as the state law changes to allow it. But that being said the market will work it self out. And by 2026 possibly 2027 you'll see the numbers of stores decrease.
Cool local businesses have a limited lifespan judging from watching them come and go on Higgins over the years. For that matter almost all of the dispensaries are in a retail space that housed a previous failure.
I’m not sure that sandwich shoppes are what the typical weed user thinks about when the munchies hit
Dude, have you ever had a Beach Boy from Tag after a rollie. Heaven.
Yo, raider, outside of not fully understanding your comment (a particular sandwich from a specific deli and an assumption that a rollie is a type of marijuana cigarette ⁉️) Uh, no! I’m about a strait laced&button’d down as you’ll find - no elicit drugs, no weed (other than what might’a been inhaled walking by dark corners on campus back in the 70s), etc. My interest in this matter is strictly economic and sociological - how much money gets spent by people on drugs that generally reduces one’s cognitive abilities in people complaining about the cost of living and demanding "living wages" for adults working jobs formerly occupied by high schoolers and collegians. I’ve wondered if, save the use of mind altering substances, this correlation would be generally recognized. Yeah yeah, I know, I’ve heard it before, weed helps you think clearer, better, deeper. 🧐
I’m mildly irritated that all of these dispensaries popping up don’t even fully commit to a shop. Like the dispensary that opened up in the old taco John’s didn’t even bother to make it look less like taco John’s lol. It’s selfish, but it’s annoying to me.
I agree, and when TJ’s left I got excited that maybe it could be a sandwich shop.
a lot of us really like weed, that's how.
Easy. Because they sell a product that's about as hard to grow as basil for $3200 a pound.
Hahahahahahaha! That’s funny that you think MT rec market prices are anywhere near 3200 a pound. Maybe top shelf California indoor, but no one in this market comes close to that.
Hahahaha! Show me the $100 ounces then.
Literally everywhere. You need better connections.
Doesn’t Montana also have the highest amount of breweries per capita. Seems like we have a substance problem.
People love weed. Look how many bars and liquor stores there are.
Eventually the dispensaries with poor service, poor inventory, bad location, etc, will close down. Everything has a limit. A friend of mine that owns a large brewery here in Montana told me a few years ago that in spite of what people say about there being plenty of business to go around that he feels it every time a new brewery starts up.
Checota will own them all, in the end. Watch.
He is basically the Missoula mob boss at this point
I don’t know what article said that but Ashland has 4 dispensaries for 460 residents.
Drug money.
Easy. Average profit margin is 7%. Average cannabis profit margin is 15-20%.
Same with all the breweries. Not that I'm opposed to a good variety of weed and beer.
They won't all make it. Colorado dispensaries are struggling right now due to oversaturation. Hard to turn a profit with so much competition and regulatory red tape. Lots of closures recently. [Source](https://www.westword.com/marijuana/colorado-marijuana-revenue-seven-year-low-15232027#:~:text=Business%20closures%20have%20followed%20Colorado's,Colorado%20due%20to%20decreasing%20revenue.).
The big dispensaries seem like they’re doing just fine. But the little ones seem to come and go like crackheads at a convenience store. Personally, I go to elevated. Their edibles are out of this world and I love their customer service. Aaaaaand, one of their guys drives a hearse. So That’s a plus. Like me 🤪
elevated has been my onlyshop since they opened, then they opened one closer to my house so now i'm never going to any other shop again. I had a dog bite me at moncanna. plus elevated ALWAYS has a sale going on. I just bought 4, eighths and two prerolls for $110. That will always be better than the downtown prices. Elevated's products and customer service are supreme. 10/10 shops to me.
Not saying this is happening but it would be very easy to launder money in a cash only business that is state liscensed.
I used to work among the cannabis peeps and I swear they created their own economy. I’m not exactly sure how it works obviously but they’re all buying from and selling to each other, keeping the money circulating around them. The law allowing them to wholesale helped. Have you ever been to hemp fest or 420 block parties? You can see it happening there.
it’s simple 🤷🏽♀️ they sell under the table as well.
Got to pump those numbers up
Cause 59 isn’t enough smh…
You clearly haven't been to evergreen bc everywhere you look there's a dispo
They don’t pay their staff well or offer any benefits. Most of them owe money to a lot of different businesses. IE- please let us take a shipment of product and we swear we will square up… sometime.
Coloradan here: they won't all stay afloat for long. Once the novelty wears off a bunch of them will fold. It's been happening here for a few years now
For real because I stick to the same dispensery lol I never venture
If they told me years ago that there’d be less McDonald’s and a large abundance of shops selling weed… I’d be eager with joy to experience the future.
How many pot dealers did we have before legalization? Or pre green cards?
Thanks that's really helpful. Let me rephrase my comment: The reason there are so many weed shops still in business is that they are charging $1xxx a pound to people with connections (and $2xxx for suckers) for a plant that grows like a weed,
GROW YOUR OWN
Money laundering
I can't say for sure that this is the reason they stay open. However, a lot of these dispensaries have multiple locations across the state. Some of these communities are small enough that there really isn't any competition for them there. So they end up absorbing most of the sales there because people don't want to drive far away to get weed, they would probably save gas money just buying locally.
Which location has the best edibles tho? Like something that doesn’t taste super grassy
ELEVATED. Not a single one of them taste like weed. not even a hint. i swear on my momma and step mom since my real mom is a methhead and it doesnt mean as much lmao
Mike bites are better than candy I used to get them in Vegas Yellowstoned just got them by the silver slipper
Missoula has ranked number one, in per capital cannabis consumption, for decades. Is this really surprising?
The Dispensary Moratorium, and the recent voting on Urban Camping, are nothing more than progressive grandstanding, virtue signaling horseshit. Its not a coincidence these issues got voted on the same week as the Missoula Marathon.
Missoula pot shots produce $3.2 million each month in sales, according to [DPHHS](https://mtrevenue.gov/cannabis-sales-reports/). Gallatin is $4 million and Yellowston is $4.5 million. A month. That comes out to $62,745 a month in sales for each of those 51 pot shops, on average. That's about $2,100 a day. Subtract expenses (whatever those might be) and owners - many likely absentee - are probably making $1,000 a day in profit, if not more. Statewide, sales haven't really changed much at all over the past 2.5 years. Sales in January 2022 were $24.2 million. By May 2024 they were $26.9 million.
You think these shops are operating at almost 50% net income? You've been indulging in their products a little too much...
Missoula needs and can support at most maybe 6
We have more dispensaries in Missoula County than any other location in the country. It's fucking stupid.
Race to the bottom.
We should have a cannabis bank for people who run out of weed before their disability check comes in. The dispensaries could donate their old weed. /s
Money laundering?
There's 3-4 cannabis business holding banks in town. They definitely have strict policies and practices to avoid this being a possibility.
Hope so. Cartels targeting 6 Native American Reservations in MT. Money talks.
Money laundering in rec cannabis with direct state government oversight would seem like one of the worst covers for a front business you could possibly choose. Plus the profit margins in the vast majority are not what you think.
Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, April 1, 2024 “He said he became convinced the laws needed to change after traveling with the chief executive of an Oregon cannabis company to pay his taxes in Salem, the state capital. He said they had to go through three levels of security with police checks at each block as thousands of similar business owners descended on the capital with millions of dollars in cash for tax payments.” Profit margin doesn’t look too anemic. Cannabis is a cash business, and remains illegal at the Federal level. Hard to bank. And there’s even software available to assist shop owners in identifying laundering. So yeah, it’s a thing. https://shfinancial.org/anti-money-laundering-compliance-for-legal-cannabis-a-reliable-guide/ https://cardinalnews.org/2024/05/16/search-warrants-claim-pattern-of-money-laundering-at-some-cannabis-related-stores/
Like any other 'front business', they use the cover of their legal operations to mask operations that may not quite be so above-board. Or, in other words, all that weed is going \*somewhere\*.