How are recreational marijuana sales going, a month after legalization?

After a month of adult use sales, the burgeoning retail cannabis industry is still continuing to grow.

Back in January, 10 existing medical dispensaries converted their license to a hybrid license, making them able to sell recreational marijuana on day one. Two of those stores are in Eastern Connecticut, The Botanist in Montville and Fine Fettle Dispensary in Willimantic.

Both stores are reporting that they are hanging on to new customers.

At The Botanist, there is double the store traffic, with the busiest days seeing a 150% increase in sales, compared to before recreational use sales were permitted, with no sign of slowing, said Marketing Coordinator Sierra Lloyd.

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“Before adult use went live, we would see some influxes in flow into the dispensary,” she said. ‘With adult use, it’s made the flow throughout the day consistent.”

This stability comes from prior medical patients coming back for cannabis again, and people who were going to Massachusetts, Lloyd said.

Fine Fettle has doubled its sales from before, and is seeing new customers who have become repeat customers.

These new customers are both people who were going up to Massachusetts to purchase cannabis and people who are new to purchasing adult use cannabis in a legal setting, Fine Fettle Chief Operating Officer Ben Zachs said.

“They get an opportunity to see what it’s like and realize ‘no, this isn’t sketchy’,” he said. “ It’s professional and clean and happy and warm and open, with a focus on customer service.”

Both Zachs and Lloyd say that there has been a continued good relationship with their business’ respective towns.

More:No more 'looking over your shoulder.' Legal adult-use cannabis sales begin in Connecticut

Expansion plans

While there are still challenges to running retail cannabis in Connecticut, like strict naming rules that prevent common strain names from being used, Zachs said the next step for Fine Fettle is opening more locations in-state, including the first dedicated adult use facility in Manchester on Feb. 17.

As the company is able to have six more stores under their current licensing, Fine Fettle is looking all over for potential locations, and now has plans to build another store in Old Saybrook, and a cultivation facility in Bloomfield, Zacks said.

“We think it’s great and important to become vertically integrated,” he said.

More:Adult-use cannabis sales begin Jan. 10. Where can you buy it in Eastern Connecticut?

The Botanist wants to remain stable with its three stores in the state. The Danbury location will become both recreational and medicinal in the coming weeks, and later this year the South Windsor location will also be medicinal and recreational.

Other than that, The Botanist is watching to see what new cannabis producers and products come onto the market, Lloyd said.

“We’re excited to add adult use to the mix all of our facilities and continue the same service, the same education and the same expertise,” she said.

This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Cannabis sales increasing at dispensaries from adult use customers