MERIDEN, Conn. (WTNH) – Since the start of legal recreational marijuana in Connecticut last month, the state has seen an influx of customers purchasing cannabis.
State dispensaries said they had seen steady growth over the last month, with one location seeing three times as many customers.
Gary Krol is the regional director for Zen Leaf. He said their Meriden location hired 25 more employees to meet the demand.
“We used to see 200 or 300 people a day, and we’re seeing close to 1,000 now,” Krol said.
They’ve also made adjustments at Fine Fettle in Newington.
Pharmacist Ludwig Rosiclair at Fine Fettle in Newington said they hired more employees and now allow walk-ins in addition to customer preorders.
“We’ve altered our workflow, we have more staff, we’re better trained now so that when people who just want to be able to walk in and maybe talk to someone for a couple of minutes, figure out what they want to get and get an order relatively quickly; we have accommodated that,” Rosiclair said.
These dispensaries would not disclose their sales, but the latest statistics from Connecticut’s Department of Consumer Protection show that between Jan. 10 and Jan. 31, there were more than $5 million in recreational sales, more than $8 million in medical sales, totaling $13 million in Connecticut.
Cannabis in Connecticut: Recreational and medical marijuana sales top $13.3 million in January
Flowers, vapes, and edibles have been the most popular products for shoppers. Store owners have not seen a shortage of these items and are constantly restocking supplies.
“We turn inventory pretty quickly, but we order multiple times a week. We get multiple deliveries each week from all four of the producers,” Krol said.
The owner of Zen Leaf said they noticed some higher prices for medical marijuana patients. Krol said he was told the price increase was from manufacturers, which has trickled down to patients.
“We don’t have, necessarily, a shortage of products, but the feedback we’re getting from patients is that they would like to see a bigger variety of things and have those available to them,” Rosiclair said.
