The city recorded $46.7 million in taxable cannabis sales in the first three months of 2024. The figure represents a $5.6 million decrease from the last quarter and a $7.1 million decrease from the same period in 2023, the Customers maintain social distance while waiting to enter The Green Cross cannabis dispensary in San Francisco, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. from the California Department of Tax and Free Administration show a 35% decline since its peak in mid-2021.
Owners have complained for months that it’s been a challenge to draw in customers and say they can’t compete with black market operations. CBS News Bay Area. “As a dispensary, it’s tough for us to compete with the illicit market.” The industry has also been hit with market saturation and a severe post-pandemic drop in customers.
“Our revenue has dropped 43% in the last 18 months,” Al Shawa, who owns Mission Cannabis Club on Mission Street near 21st Street, a mainstay in the neighborhood since 2010,Shawa owns two other dispensaries that opened in 2023, one in the Marina District and another in the city’s Russian Hill area.