Cannabis Home Delivery Surges in California Amid Outbreak

By | March 23, 2020

One company rushed to expand its delivery fleet. Another has seen sales triple. The global coronavirus pandemic has left millions of people locked out of bars, restaurants and theaters, but it’s been an unexpected boost for some U.S. pot shops.

Marijuana users in the nation’s largest legal pot shop, California, and elsewhere are on a buying binge, as they stock up for potential quarantines or simply light up in search of relief during anxious times and government lockdowns. New York, San Francisco and Palm Springs, California, are among the cities labeling dispensaries “essential” businesses that can remain open during virus lockdowns, in some cases with limitations.

Sales increases also are being witnessed in Colorado and Washington, according to cannabis data company Headset.

Dispensaries, meanwhile, have been quick to accommodate virus-wary customers, boosting delivery and pickup options.

In California, the online delivery marketplace Eaze said order volume jumped 38% on Monday, compared to the annual average, and deliveries overall saw an identical jump. Deliveries to first-time customers spiked over 50%.

The Weedmaps online directory has documented a big jump in delivery and pickup orders, too, and found California saw a 66% increase in order volume in the second week of March, compared to the first week.

Glass House Group CEO Kyle Kazan bought several Priuses to put more delivery vehicles on the road to keep up with demand.

With many consumers reluctant to go out for fear of getting sick, practicing social distancing or being ordered to stay inside by government, “we are going to have to bring the store to them,” said Kazan, whose company includes a cultivation arm and four California dispensaries.

“It’s not much different than Amazon,” Kazan said.

At The Herbery, which operates two stores in Vancouver, Washington, sales have spiked about 30% since last Friday, when Gov. Jay Inslee announced widespread school closures and other measures to deal with the outbreak. One store saw sales double on a single day, said owner Jim Mullen.

“People are buying four or five items instead of one or two,” he said. “People are asking what the legal limit is. We’re seeing bulk buying and people stocking up on products.”

In California, many stores have been forced to close their doors or limit sales over health fears, but marijuana shops have been deemed essential businesses in key markets across California where shelter-in-place orders have been issued, including in San Francisco.

Around the state it’s a case-by-case basis that is changing daily, but it appears much of the legal market is up and running, even as residents often find toilet paper, bread and other staples hard to find. Los Angeles, the state’s biggest market, on Thursday issued an order designating cannabis dispensaries “essential activities” because “they provide services that are recognized to be critical to the health … of the city,” even as it shuttered gyms.

Topics California Cannabis

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Latest Comments

  • March 26, 2020 at 5:58 pm
    Craig Winston Cornell says:
    Please define "topic". Is that like 32 days is a month? Or getting fired for not reporting pot use is "getting fired for a medical condition"? Or month equals months? Or zero ... read more
  • March 26, 2020 at 2:46 pm
    flawedlogic says:
    ??? You aren't a monkey polar, it's okay you aren't reading your own studies. It has always been known that cannabis can cause psychosis, especially in new users. One thing is... read more
  • March 26, 2020 at 2:44 pm
    flawedlogic says:
    for a person who claims to have a statistics degree, you really don't ready past your own confirmation bias. Look at the last sentence of what I replied with, but here it goes... read more
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