[BUSINESS.TIME] A few days into the experiment, the new world of legal-recreational-marijuana sales in Colorado appears to be a big success -- so much so that pot shops are finding it impossible to keep up with demand.According to the Denver Post, at least 37 stores in Colorado were licensed to sell recreational pot to anyone 21 or over as of New Year's Day. The News Agency that Dare Not be Named and others reported long lines outside Denver pot shops, with some eager customers forced to wait three to five hours before getting a chance to go inside, step up to the counter and make a purchase.
Prices have been steep -- in some cases, stores were charging $50 or even $70 for one-eighth of an ounce of pot that cost medical marijuana users just $25 the day before -- and taxes add on an extra 20% or so. Even so, sales have been brisk.
The two operational pot shops in Pueblo collectively sold $87,000 of marijuana on Jan. 1, per the Pueblo Chieftain, and store owners say if demand persists anywhere near the current high, they'll be sold out in the very near future. Likewise, Toni Fox, owner of the 3D Cannabis Center in Denver, told the Colorado Springs Gazette that a sellout is imminent. "We are going to run out," she said on Thursday, Day 2 of legal-recreational-marijuana sales. "It's insane. This weekend will be just as crazy. If there is a mad rush, we'll be out by Monday."