420 2025 is officially in the books – and in keeping with Cova tradition, we’re breaking down the retail stats and figures from the cannabis industry’s most anticipated sales day of the year. —and this year we’ve both expanded and gone deeper with our analysis.
It’s hard to distill the story of 2025’s 420 long weekend into a short headline; the results, driven by vastly different shopping behaviors, varied greatly from market to market. We looked at aggregate data from 2000 dispensaries and cannabis stores across the US and Canada, captured by Cova POS. These included everything from established high-volume, multi-location stores to newly launched mom and pop dispensaries.
The averages confirm 420 overall remains the highest of cannabis sales days. But ask 10 different retailers about their own experience and you’ll probably hear 10 different stories. We went on a bit of an Easter egg hunt for the data points that highlight the range of results and reveal how many states and provinces saw sales spread out, and 420 fall from the #1 spot.
You can download our full infographic here, keep reading for more commentary and context.
What Was Different About 420 2025?
For the first time in more than a decade, 420 coincided with Easter Sunday, which definitely factored into retail performance in certain markets. For instance, Canadian retailers saw their biggest sales lift in the days leading up to 420, as consumers stocked up ahead of the long holiday weekend. Retailers encouraged this early surge by offering deep discounts and promotions from Thursday to Saturday, rather than focusing solely on Sunday, April 20th.
Other factors outside of Easter may have impacted 420 sales, too:
- In Canada, advanced polling for a fast-approaching federal election could have contributed to more people lining up at polling stations than cannabis stores.
- In the U.S., states across the Midwest experienced severe weather over the long weekend that put a damper on celebrations.
- And while it’s hard to say precisely what percentage of 420 sales are driven by tourism, we do know that cross-border traffic between the U.S. and Canada has plummeted in recent months to levels not seen since the COVID era.
With sales spread out and likely short of breaking any records, the best news is that no retailers were left behind this year by widespread system outages that have plagued previous 420s. Not only were there no reports of major system crashes, but Cova is proud to have achieved its eighth consecutive year of 100% uptime on 420 with ZERO reported outages. Our average transaction time clocked in at just 0.9 seconds across 787,000 transactions processed between April 17-20. With close to a million unique sales coming through our terminals over the holiday weekend, you can bet we captured a treasure trove of data – so let’s dig in.
How Much Did Dispensaries Actually Make on 420 2025?
Looking strictly at day-of transactions, this year’s 420 sales came in lower than those in 2024 and 2023 across the U.S. and Canada. In the U.S., average April 20 sales were roughly $4,000 lower than they were in 2024, and in Canada, they were just under $2,000 less. Of course, with 420 falling on a major religious holiday in 2025 compared to a Saturday in 2024, this was to be expected.
Here’s a more complete breakdown of sales, gross profit, average foot traffic and basket size compared to the last two years:
Even with Easter in the mix, consumers still showed up for the highest of all cannabis holidays. In the U.S., sales were lit all weekend – up 61% on Friday and 63% on Saturday, while Sunday saw a whopping 94% boost.
As we mentioned, Canadian retailers saw their biggest sales in the days leading up to the long weekend, with a peak increase of 68% on Thursday, April 17th.
2025 420 Retail Sales Highlights and Key Takeaways
United States
With 420 falling on a major holiday, peak sales days in the U.S. were a bit disjointed. Here are our key takeaways from this year’s unique 420 holiday:
- Illinois and Missouri, both limited-license states, saw exceptionally high per-store revenue across the long weekend. Illinois averaged just over $50,000 per store, while Missouri topped $67,000 per store despite the state’s already high baseline sales – showing that 420 still delivers even in top-performing markets.
- As one of the most mature U.S. cannabis markets, Colorado continues to perform well. Sales per store were strong and consistent the whole weekend, growing each day and peaking Sunday with a 62% increase from the previous Sunday.
- Emerging markets like New Mexico and Mississippi saw significant peaks, with sales increases of 107% and 111% respectively, though on different days of the weekend. This performance reflects rising consumer demand and 420 traction in newer legal markets.
- On the lower end, New York saw just a 28% increase, which could indicate slower adoption and ongoing challenges in market rollout.
- Unsurprisingly, California saw the biggest boost on 420 itself with a whopping 185% sales increase. This just goes to show the strength of consumer engagement and the ongoing cultural relevance of cannabis’ high holy day in the Golden State, even nearly a decade after legalization.
Here’s a chart that compares retail cannabis sales by state from Sunday, April 13th to the 420 holiday weekend:
Overall, the 2025 long weekend fell slightly short of the dispensary revenue numbers recorded over the same weekend last year, when 420 fell on a Saturday, with no holidays to compete with.
Canada
Canadian retailers experienced a more consistent trend over the 420 weekend, with the majority of provinces seeing sales peak on Thursday, April 17th. Since Good Friday is a statutory holiday, a lot of cannabis stores across the country were closed on both Friday and Sunday. This obviously impacted sales patterns and drove many retailers to offer deep discounts and early promotions ahead of time.
Here’s a closer look at retail sales across the provinces:
Cannabis Holiday Retail Sales: How Does 420 Stack Up?
While cannabis retailers can and do leverage holidays like Labor Day, Independence Day, Christmas and New Years to drive sales, it’s long been held that 420 is the ultimate day of observance for consumers. But do the numbers back it up?
Let’s take a look:
As you can see, the answer is a resounding YES! In the U.S., this year’s 420 saw a 51% boost compared to the typical Saturday, while Canadian retailers saw a 38% boost on Thursday, April 17th (the peak sales day across the 420 weekend) compared to the average Saturday sales. The next closest holiday in the U.S. was Green Wednesday which saw a 39% boost, and Christmas in Canada which drove 32% more sales.
Power Your Cannabis Retail Sales with Cova
In 2025, Cova continued its win streak with eight consecutive years of zero system outages on 420. We’d love to show you how our award-winning cannabis retail system works – and how it can help elevate your operation’s efficiency and customer experience to the next level. Just click the button below to book a free demo today!