Green Friday Successful For Denver Pot Shop
DENVER (CBS4) - Marijuana green meant greenbacks for one pot shop on Black Friday.
Or, as they were dubbing it, Green Friday.
While millions of shoppers crowded more traditional stores to snag discounted TVs and toys, hundreds lined up at Grass Station, a Denver marijuana retailer, to find bargains before they went up in smoke.
"Our first customer here today was camped out here starting at 6 p.m. last night, so they waited a full 14 hours to get in the door," Conor Morrison, the manager of the Grass Station, said.
In two hours, the store welcomed nearly 200 customers. For comparison, on a typical Friday, it will serve around 300 customers the entire day.
"I mean it's a business, right? If everyone is out shopping, you'd want to get some of those dollars," customer James Armstrong said.
For weeks, Colorado's marijuana shops have been touting ads, even matching competitors' coupons.
There was extra incentive to show up early.
"Those first 16 people were here for those $50 ounces," Morrison said. Ounces usually run $300 to $350.
Sam Kamin, a law professor at the University of Denver who's followed the industry, said this was expected.
"I think what we're seeing now is an industry maturing that's gone from a novelty to behaving like other industries, which is doing promotions, doing advertising, trying to come up with new products, trying to capture market share," he said. "I think we'll see a lot more of that going forward."
Many stores ran ads for several weeks before the annual shopping rush.
Some customers said they didn't consider the business side of the industry.
"I never put that together, never made that connection," one customer said. "But now it's there and it works. I mean look at this place."
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