Cannacurio #71: Pharmacy & Retailers 2023 Q1 Leaderboard

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Now that the first quarter is complete, we’d like to release our quarterly summary of which states have issued the most pharmacy/retailer licenses. Our review of 2022 showed that 2,750 licenses were issued and four states accounted for 66% of the newly issued licenses in 2022. The first quarter of 2023 shows Oklahoma responsible for 47% of the state’s 699 new licenses — despite their licensing “moratorium.”

Important Findings

• The total number of licenses nationwide increased by 4.9% to 546 new stores.
• 75% of these licenses were in 5 states: OK, MI, FL, CA and NM.
• Oklahoma accounted for 332 (47%) of the newly issued licenses, followed by Michigan with 81 (11.6%).

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Despite similar totals in Q122 and Q123, the trend lines couldn’t be more different. Even if Oklahoma is removed, the 2023 trend line is still pointing down. We will see an upward trend as more businesses come online in new and expanding markets.

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No post about pharmacies and shops can ignore Oklahoma. The state is still home to the largest concentration of stores in the nation. Despite a moratorium in September 2022, the number of deals has not decreased. Q1 of 2023 shows a downtrend – but we’ve seen that before.

leaderboard

Looking at the 699 new licenses, it’s instructive to see which companies have added stores. Based on the Cannabiz Media License Database, here are the 16 companies that added 4 or more licenses in Q12023:

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Finally, the table below shows the final Cannabiz Media distribution/retail license list for March 31, 2023.

Diploma

Comparing the table above to year-end 2022 numbers, total store/pharmacy licenses are up 4.9%. We’ve already added 146 licenses in the second quarter – with New York being the big driver.

The other trend we’re avidly watching is the unlicensed market. We estimate there are thousands of these companies in states that have signaled they will not be shut down. The store story is far from over!

author

Ed Keating is co-founder of Cannabiz Media and oversees the company’s data research and government relations. He has spent his career working with and advising information companies on compliance issues. Ed has led product, marketing and sales while overseeing complex, multi-jurisdictional product lines in the securities, corporate, UCC, security, environmental and human resources markets.

Cannabiz Media customers can stay up to date on these and other new licenses through our newsletter, notification and reporting modules. Subscribe to our newsletter to get these weekly reports in your inbox. Or you can schedule a demo to learn more about how to access the Cannabiz media license database yourself to dig deeper into this data.

‍Cannacurio is a weekly column from Cannabiz Media featuring insights from the most comprehensive licensing data platform. Check out Cannacurio’s posts and podcasts for the latest updates and information.