Reports of Buddy Boy’s imminent end began circling on social media on June 9, as management told employees that all seven stores would close.
Owner John Fritzel confirmed the move to Westword, noting that he’s already closed seven growing operations, as well. According to Fritzel, the closures were all a matter of economics, and he predicts that things will likely get worse for Colorado’s marijuana industry.
“The bigger they are, the harder they fall,” he says. “When you’ve got that kind of overhead, you just can’t keep that going. We would love to, but there’s not enough capital in this market. If there was a ray of light and the numbers were improving, we would have tried.”
All seven of Buddy Boy’s dispensaries offered medical marijuana sales, and two of them were exclusive to medical patients. According to Fritzel, 90 percent of Buddy Boy’s revenue came from medical sales, but those began nosediving this year, after a new law took effect on January 1 that limited the daily amount of purchasable medical marijuana concentrate to 8 grams, rather than the previous 40 grams.
Medical marijuana sales quickly dropped, totaling $85.7 million in the first four months of 2022, down more than 43 percent from the same span in 2021, according to the state Department of Revenue. But overall marijuana sales numbers and wholesale prices have been dropping, as well.
“With the new regulations at…
