Cannacurio No. 82: Best list for pharmacies and retailers in the third quarter of 2023

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Here is our summary of the states that issued pharmacy/retail licenses in Q3 2023. So far this year we have added 739 stores in the first quarter of 2023; 649 in the second quarter and 573 in the third quarter. Five states accounted for 77% of these Q3 licenses: New York, New Jersey, Michigan, California and New Mexico.

• New York, New Jersey, Michigan, California and New Mexico accounted for 77% of licenses in the third quarter
• Oklahoma issued just three licenses, compared to 11 in the second quarter and 332 in the first quarter
• New York and New Jersey received a combined 331 licenses in the third quarter.

Here’s a look at the six states that issued at least 100 new store licenses this year, compared to the number of store licenses issued in the third quarter. It certainly underscores the fact that Oklahoma is effectively dead when it comes to issuing new licenses.

Looking at the 1,961 new licenses added since the beginning of the year, it’s interesting to see which companies opened stores in the first three quarters. Based on the Cannabiz Media License Database, here are the 10 companies that added 8 or more licenses YTD 2023:

Finally, the table below shows Cannabiz Media’s final balance of dispensary/retail licenses for September 2023.

The total number of active store licenses has only increased 4% since the end of the second quarter. One factor is the decline in branches in Oklahoma, as the number of branches fell from 2,851 in June to 2,683 in September – a decline of nearly 6%. However, we expect an upward trend as the number of newly licensed states grows and New York accelerates its licensing. We should also keep an eye on New Hampshire’s possible experiment with state stores and Mississippi’s independent drug store system.

Ed Keating is co-founder of Cannabiz Media and oversees the company’s data research and government relations. Throughout his career, he has worked with and advised information companies in the compliance area. Ed has led product, marketing and sales while overseeing complex, multi-country product lines in securities, corporate, UCC, security, environmental and human resources.

Cannabiz Media customers can stay up to date on these and other new licenses through our newsletter, alerts and reporting modules. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive these weekly reports straight to your inbox. Or you can schedule a demo to get more information about how you can access Cannabiz Media’s Cannabis Market Intelligence platform yourself and dive deeper into this data.

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