Cannabis retailer hopes CT’s new shopping rules help improve statewide sales

Two years after it was legalized, adult-use cannabis sales in Connecticut are hovering around $16 million in sales each month. In Massachusetts, however, that number is about $140 million per month.

David Salinas, CEO of Hi! People in Derby hopes relaxed regulations on store design and shopping experience can help those numbers.

“Right now, we’re headed toward a $200 million year – again. I think that maybe it’s going to grow a little bit, but I think that it could be a lot higher,” Salinas said,

He said he wants to see the state’s cannabis numbers expand.

“Massachusetts for example is a billion-and-a-half-dollar state with double our population,” he said.

Salinas believes rules restricting black and white, non-descript packaging and a “tablet-to-counter” style of shopping are some of the factors that make shopping for adult-use cannabis less attractive.

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“So, people are expecting things to be certain way and when they come into an experience that’s not like that, they get turned off,” Salinas said. “It’s uninspiring.”

That’s why he was intentional when he designed Hi! People in Derby. The state recently relaxed laws around in-store purchases of cannabis, and now Hi! People is the first in the state with a “bud bar.”

The U-shaped display cases allow customers to see products before they buy them, a new allowance in the state. Prior rules only allowed products to be ordered on a tablet and picked up at a counter.

“You could not open the package until you left the store and left the premises,” Salinas said. “That’s the way the law is today.”

“By actually taking the flower out and being able to look at it, smell it, we can look at the different nuances between different indicas or between different sativas,” general manager Justin Sheridan said. “There’s more to it than just bud structure and classification.”

He said their store is now being compared to shops in neighboring states.

“They’re super impressed. We’re no longer being compared to other Connecticut dispensaries. We’re actually being compared to dispensaries in other states that are ahead of us in the timeline which is pretty awesome,” Sheridan said.

Connecticut’s monthly adult-use retail sales numbers have hovered around $16 million in sales for the month of February, while Massachusetts saw brought in $39 million the first week of the month.

Overall, the state made $293 million in sales in 2024, while Massachusetts made $1.8 billion.

Salinas believes lower prices, better brand labeling on products and the improved customer experiences can help push the industry forward in Connecticut.

“The regulators, the legislators, the social equity council, and the industry need to get together to form some type of committee to help push this forward, so it could be as successful as other states,” Salinas said.