
Kitsap County’s first recreational marijuana store opened
in August of 2014 and sales soared for the next 14
months.
That trend changed abruptly in November, when the
county saw its first month-to-month decline in retail marijuana
sales.
Gross sales dipped by nearly 9 percent between October
to November, according to numbers posted by the state Liquor and Cannabis Board:
The decline in sales wasn’t limited to Kitsap. Washington
recorded its first statewide drop in retail marijuana
revenue back in July, following a restructuring of the excise
tax, and sales slipped again in November:
A one-month falloff in sales is far from
a trend, but the decline does come at an interesting
time for the industry.
The Liquor and Cannabis Board
announced plans last week to lift the cap on retail licenses,
as the state prepares to roll the marginally-regulated medical
marijuana system into the tightly-controlled recreational marijuana
system. The number of stores allowed in Kitsap would increase from
10 to 20.
Some legal marijuana sellers believe the market is
already becoming saturated in Bremerton and Port Orchard,
pointing to a plateau in per-store sales this fall.
The chart below shows gross sales for each of the
seven active marijuana stores in Kitsap (an eighth store,
called The Reef, just opened in Bremerton, and a
tribally-owned store
opened in Suquamish).
You can wave your mouse over the store names to highlight their
sales:
Click here for more Kitsap marijuana industry coverage.