Update: I checked the state sales figures this morning and we broke a record – not for Green Friday but for the day BEFORE Thanksgiving. Check out my story with details here: Statewide, pot sales set record on day before Thanksgiving

(check the end of this post for the state sales data since July)

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Green Friday weekend sales were a bit mixed for Clark County’s three recreational marijuana stores.

The oddly-historic shopping day, renamed from Black Friday, was the first time holiday-themed recreational pot sales took place in Washington and Colorado – or anywhere else in the country.

In Clark County, the key to bringing in throngs of shoppers seems to have rested on marketing campaigns.

New Vansterdam (6515 E Mill Plain Blvd. in Vancouver), which promoted special deals and sales for several weeks, saw $70,000 in sales that Friday – after offering prices as low as $3 for joints, $15 for 1 gram packages and $20 for 2 gram packages as doorbusters.

“We did very well,” said Brian Budz, one of the store’s owners. “We did well over double what we do on a normal Friday. The rest of the weekend also stayed up, percentage wise. Saturday was about 50 percent higher than normal, Sunday was a bit above but close to normal.”

Holiday gift boxes and discounted strains were the top sellers.

Budz credited social media outreach on Twitter, Facebook and email blasts for the success.

“I think word of mouth helped as well,” Budz said. “Our staff informed customers and customers shared the news.”

Main Street Marijuana (2314 Main St. in Vancouver) also saw a slight increase in sales for the day, but it wasn’t anything overwhelming, said Ramsey Hamide, one of the store’s managers.

The store did minimal outreach on social media for about a week before the holiday weekend but didn’t push it much, he said.

“Friday was a little bit more than normal, but not overwhelming,” Hamide said. “Saturday was slow, decent but not much more than a normal Saturday. And Sunday was pretty much average.”

The Cannabis Country Store (1910 W. Main St. in Battle Ground), which will hold its official Grand Opening on Dec. 10-11, also saw a minimal uptick in sales for the weekend, said Loren Carlson, the owner.

The store opened quietly in what’s called a “soft opening” in early November.

“It was kind of uneventful,” Carlson said. “It wasn’t a bad day, but it wasn’t more than usual. Saturday, too, we had some specials for Small Business Saturday, but it wasn’t much more than average.”

The store also did some minimal announcements about sales on Facebook and Twitter a few days before the holiday weekend.

The store has been more focused on deals for its upcoming Grand Opening and decided not to push Green Friday as much, Carlson said.

The Washington Liquor Control Board will release sales information for the weekend this Tuesday. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the state did.

Cheers,
-SueVo (sue.vorenberg@columbian.com)

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Here are the state sales figures so far: