The cannabis retail sales calendar
A dozen days do a disproportionate share of a dispensary’s year. This guide lists each one with the published lift figures, the dates for this year and next, and what to have in place — inventory, menus and screens, online ordering, loyalty, staffing. Every date is also on the interactive calendar and in the sales-dates feed.
The pattern is consistent across the data vendors that publish it: 4/20 is about double an average day, Green Wednesday and Black Friday sit around 1.6–1.7×, and July 3 and the Friday before Labor Day land near 1.5×. The rest — 7/10, Christmas Eve, Valentine’s, Halloween, New Year’s Eve — are smaller in total but matter for specific categories or as marketing moments. The operational lesson is the same for all of them: the lift shows up on the register only if the POS, the menus on screen and online, and the promotion were set up in advance and agree with each other on the day.
4/20
Apr 20, 2027The single biggest day of the year for licensed retail — roughly double an average day nationally, with more transactions, not just bigger baskets. Half of retailers run discounts, and more than a quarter of transactions use a promo code, so margin planning matters as much as traffic.
- US sales, 4/20/2026
- $134.4M — 2.0× an average day — Headset — cannabis industry statistics
- Per-store sales lift (Cova retailers)
- +140% vs. a typical Monday; 27.7% of transactions used a promo — Cova — 4/20 2026 retail sales report
- Inventory: order 6–8 weeks out; the whole promo window (the Friday before through 4/20) draws down stock, not just the day.
- Menus and screens: schedule the deal menu on your POS-synced signage and online menu ahead of time so pricing changes at open, everywhere at once.
- Staffing and throughput: extra registers, express lanes for pre-orders, and pickup/delivery windows published a week ahead.
- Loyalty: pre-load offers to members the week before — 4/20 is the best day of the year to grow the list.
The 4/20 promo window
Apr 16–20, 2027Retailers spread deals across the weekend before 4/20; in Canada the Friday often out-sells the day itself. Treat the window as one campaign with a daily rhythm rather than a single-day blowout.
- Cova retailers, Apr 17–20, 2026
- 833,925 transactions / $34M across its platform — Cova — 4/20 2026 retail sales report
- Tier the offers: warm-up deals Friday–Sunday, hero deals on the 20th, so early shoppers don't wait.
- Watch stock daily; re-allocate between stores if you run multiple locations.
Green Wednesday
Nov 25, 2026 · Nov 24, 2027The day before Thanksgiving is the second-biggest cannabis retail day of the year and typically beats Black Friday. Customers are stocking up for a long weekend at home, so flower, pre-rolls and edibles bundles lead.
- US sales, 11/26/2025
- $113.5M — 1.7× an average day — Headset — cannabis industry statistics
- Per-store lift (Cova)
- +82% ($5,845 per store) — Cova — 4/20 2026 retail sales report
- Announce hours and deals the weekend before; many shoppers travel Wednesday afternoon.
- Bundle for the weekend ("Danksgiving" packs) and keep the same offer running Thursday–Friday for stragglers.
- Extend online-ordering pickup windows into the evening.
Black Friday
Nov 27, 2026 · Nov 26, 2027Third-largest sales day — doorbusters, gift sets and accessory bundles. Cross-category gifting (vape hardware, glass, apparel) does well here in a way it doesn't on 4/20.
- US sales, 11/28/2025
- $107.5M — 1.6× an average day — Headset — cannabis industry statistics
- Feature gift-ready products and higher-ticket items; carry the offers into Small Business Saturday.
- Email and SMS the list Thursday evening; the shopper is already in deal mode.
July 3
Jul 3, 2027The day before Independence Day is consistently a top-five sales day (about 1.5× average) as customers stock up for cookouts and the long weekend.
- US sales, 7/3/2025
- $97.8M — 1.5× an average day — Headset — cannabis industry statistics
- Per-store lift (Cova)
- +77% — Cova — 4/20 2026 retail sales report
- Run the promotion July 2–3; the 4th itself is quieter with shortened hours in many markets.
- Beverages, edibles and pre-roll multipacks — outdoor, shareable formats.
Labor Day weekend (the Friday)
Sep 4, 2026 · Sep 3, 2027The Friday before Labor Day runs about 1.5× an average day — the last summer stock-up.
- US sales, 8/29/2025
- $97.3M — 1.5× an average day — Headset — cannabis industry statistics
- Per-store lift (Cova)
- +73% — Cova — 4/20 2026 retail sales report
- Same playbook as July 3: shareable formats, promotion Thursday–Friday, weekend hours posted early.
7/10 — Dab Day
Jul 10, 2027"OIL" upside down. Smaller than 4/20 overall, but the biggest promotional day for concentrates and vapes; extraction brands time launches and drops to it.
- Concentrate and cartridge deals, plus dab hardware; educate budtenders and screens on the category — new customers arrive on 7/10.
- Coordinate with your extraction and vape brand partners for launch inventory.
Christmas Eve
Dec 24, 2026 · Dec 24, 2027A strong gifting-season day; in Canada it outperforms 4/20 on a per-store basis. Gift sets, premium flower and accessories.
- Canada per-store sales (Cova)
- $5,707 — above 4/20 — Cova — 4/20 2026 retail sales report
- Publish holiday hours by December 15; make gift bundles easy to buy online for pickup.
Memorial Day weekend
May 28, 2027Start of summer — a dependable secondary bump on the Friday, though no industry-wide lift figure has been published.
- Light promotion, weekend hours posted; a good moment to test summer bundles before July 3.
Halloween
Oct 31, 2026 · Oct 31, 2027Edibles-led promotional day; more of a marketing moment than a volume spike.
- Edibles and themed drops; keep compliance in mind — packaging and marketing rules on anything that could appeal to minors are strict in every state.
New Year's Eve
Dec 31, 2026 · Dec 31, 2027Party-season promotional day; pre-rolls, beverages and edibles.
- Post NYE and New Year's Day hours early; run the offer Dec 30–31.
Valentine's Day
Feb 14, 2027Gifting and edibles — a modest, dependable bump.
- Chocolate and beverage edibles, couples' bundles; promote a week ahead.
What to have in place, and who in the Register does it
Menus that change themselves
Deal pricing should flow from the point of sale to in-store screens and online menus at open — no hand edits on the busiest day of the year.
Reach the list first
Loyalty and CRM platforms with compliant SMS/email, and agencies that know the state advertising rules — promotions land a week ahead, not the morning of.
Throughput
Payments that don’t queue, delivery and pickup windows published early, and staffing partners for the surge.
Questions about cannabis sales holidays
- What is the biggest cannabis sales day of the year?
- 4/20 (April 20). Headset put US legal sales on 4/20/2026 at $134.4 million — about 2.0× an average day — and Cova reported per-store sales up roughly 140% versus a typical Monday. Green Wednesday (the day before Thanksgiving) is second at about 1.7×, and Black Friday third at about 1.6×.
- What is Green Wednesday?
- The Wednesday before US Thanksgiving. Customers stock up before a long weekend at home, and it has become the second-largest cannabis retail day of the year, ahead of Black Friday. In 2026 it falls on November 25; in 2027, November 24.
- What is 7/10?
- July 10 — "OIL" upside down — the concentrates and vape holiday. It is much smaller than 4/20 in total sales but is the biggest promotional day for extracts, cartridges and dab hardware.
- How far ahead should a dispensary plan for 4/20?
- Inventory orders six to eight weeks out; promotion, menu and signage schedules two to three weeks out; staffing and pickup/delivery windows published at least a week ahead. The promo window starts the Friday before, so plan for four days, not one.
- Where do these sales figures come from?
- Headset's cannabis industry statistics (US retail sales by day) and Cova's annual 4/20 retail report (per-store lift across its POS platform). Each date on the calendar links to its source; figures are updated as the vendors publish new years.