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2023 Cannabis Sales Per Store and Capita

Five years into legalization, Canada surpassed 3,600 stores in August 2023. New data from Statistics Canada suggests the number of stores has stabilized and the cannabis sector has started to decline, after growing from October 2018 to December 2022.

In August, Canadian cannabis sales hit $464.23 million, up 19.08% from the prior year, with 3,606 licensed cannabis stores in the country. With a population of 40,097,761 in Canada, that’s an average of one store per 11,119 people and $11.58 in sales per capita giving each retailer $128,737 in sales per month.

There have been some interesting changes in the monthly sales per store and sales per capita over the last two years.

August Sales Breakdown by Province

Monthly Sales/Store
Stores

Population
Population per Store Sales per Capita
Quebec $570,520 98 8,874,683 90,558 $6.30
New Brunswick $275,226 31 834,691 26,926 $10.22
Nova Scotia $216,694 49 1,058,694 21,606 $10.03
Newfoundland $164,370 46 538,605 11,709 $14.04
British Columbia $148,452 498 5,519,013 11,082 $13.40
Ontario $107,445 1754 15,608,369 8,899 $12.07
Saskatchewan $115,814 177 1,209,107 6,831 $16.95
Manitoba $81,577 189 1,454,902 7,698 $10.60
Alberta $105,494 745 4,695,290 6,302 $16.74
Prince Edward Island $579,500 4 173,787 43,447 $13.34
Yukon $157,000 8 44,975 5,622 $27.93
Canada $128,737 3606 40,097,761 11,119 $11.58

Note: based on sales and number of stores in August 2023. Data source: Statistics Canada.

In August, the Yukon had the highest sales per capita at $27.93, while Quebec had the lowest at $6.30. The majority of provinces are higher than the national average sales per capita with the exception of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Manitoba.

Two years prior, Canada had an average of $9.95 sales per capita with a population of 38,436,447 people, 2,859 stores, and 13,444 people per store. While Quebec’s sales per capita has gone down since 2021, all other provinces have gone up.

People in the Yukon are the best served by cannabis stores in 2023 with 5,622 people per store. This is closely followed by Alberta and Saskatchewan. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Quebec has a whopping 90,558 people per store, almost ten times the national average.

Similar patterns were seen in 2021 but overall the number of people per store has decreased over the last two years.

Has Canada Reached Store Saturation?

Nathan Mison, president of DIPLOMAT Consulting thinks we have. “I think we have definitely reached store saturation,” he says. “One of the reasons for saturation is profitability in retail is very tough, especially at the small and independent level. The true cost of regulation and distribution is so tough. Landlords have not adjusted rates in the way they need to, to accommodate profitability in the marketplace.”

Mison points out that the four most successful cannabis companies in Canada are government-run, which is interesting in a privatized environment: BC Liquor Distribution Branch, Ontario Cannabis Store, Société québécoise du cannabis, and Cannabis NB.

“That shows the state of the environment,” he explains. “It is so hard to get the federal and provincial governments to pay attention to the woes of the cannabis sector. They don’t realize how much they’re stifling profitability for the small and medium-sized businesses they helped create.”

While Canadian cannabis sales continue to increase monthly, it doesn’t necessarily mean that retailers are pocketing that. “The challenge is when the government distributor takes 40-60% off the top and the only person you’re allowed to buy from is them. There is not a lot of margin left between rent, cost of goods, and fixed labour costs,” Mison notes.

He believes we’re going to start to see stores and cultivators start to close, particularly as the CRA starts to collect taxes from companies that are in arrears.

Economic Opportunity

Sales continue to grow, cannabis acceptance is at 70%, and the illicit market has been displaced in a significant way, but Mison believes government still isn’t paying attention to the economic power of the industry and the tens of thousands of jobs it has created.

“We need government’s attention to realize this opportunity,” he says. “Government needs to realize the world is looking to Canada as a leader in the space and take that seriously.”

Looking at and harmonizing each province’s wholesale and distribution system could be one step forward. “In true Canadian fashion, we have different wholesale and distribution models for every province,” Mison says. “We should have one Canadian solution coming out of the fifth year of legalization so companies that want to grow across the country would have that opportunity. If we’re going to move this sector forward and see it as the economic engine that it is, we need to have an honest conversation around what it is, what it is doing, and the societal impact. We need to make sure you can find those opportunities for parallel systems. We would move the whole sector forward by just aligning it with other legalized sectors.”

Image courtesy of Tonik Cannabis.

Tags: 2023 cannabis sales (13), Alberta cannabis (62), August 2023 sales (2), BC Cannabis (45), Canadian Cannabis (118), Cannabis Industry (191), Cannabis Retail (413), Cannabis Sales (74), cannabis sales per capita (3), cannabis store saturation (2), Nathan Mison (12), Ontario Cannabis (75), provincial sales by province (13)