Nova Scotia cannabis sales were up almost 10% in the second quarter and local products continue to capture the market. The Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (NSLC) released its second quarter financial results for July 3 to October 1, 2023, reporting a 0.6% increase in earnings to $83.3 million.
Financial Highlights
Total sales for the quarter were up 1.2% to $242.1 million with an increase in both beverage alcohol and cannabis. There was an 8.7% increase in cannabis sales to $31.4 million compared to a 0.1% increase in beverage alcohol sales to $210.7 million.
Second-quarter results also show an increase in most sales channels, especially local products. Total sales of local beverage alcohol and cannabis increased by 4.3% to $39.0 million, led by local beer with a 5.1% increase to $9.1 million, and Nova Scotia cannabis sales, which grew 19.6% to $10.3 million.
Nova Scotia cannabis now accounts for 32.8% of all cannabis sales, the largest the province has seen to date.
Retail customer transactions for cannabis increased by 13.8% and the average dollar value of each transaction decreased by 4.4% to $37.04. The average price per gram for cannabis decreased by 3.5% to $6.03.
New Cannabis Stores
In July, the NSLC opened a new cannabis location in Halifax, renovating the Young Street store, which now offers both cannabis and beverage alcohol.
“Over the past five years, we have worked hard to increase the opportunity for our customers to access cannabis safely,” says Greg Hughes, President and CEO of NSLC. “We started with 12 cannabis locations and now we’re up to 49 stores across the province.”
According to Statistics Canada data, cannabis sales per store in the province are well above the national average, while the sales per capita dip below the average. The number of people served by a store in Nova Scotia is almost double that served by the national average.
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. In Nova Scotia, sales were up by 2.87% to $10.62 million.
With a population of 1,058,694 and 49 stores in Nova Scotia, that’s an average of one store per 21,606 people and $10.03 in sales per capita giving each retailer $216,694 in sales per month. In comparison, the national average sales per store in August was $128,737 with 3606 stores in Canada. That’s an average of one store per 11,119 people and $11.58 in sales per capita.