Fourth of July Dispensary Checklist
June 27, 2024
We love a punch list of things to do, especially when there’s a major shopping holiday just around the corner. With cannabis we have two major shopping holidays coming up very soon- the Fourth of July and 7/10. The Fourth of July typically ends up being a surprisingly healthy sales day. It’s typically celebrated as a long weekend, as it’s a federal holiday. It’s also a celebratory holiday, so people are prone to traveling or using cannabis while socializing. All this paired with mid-summer sunshine makes the Fourth of July a perfectly busy day in your dispensary. We understand if it’s been a bit slow since 4/20, so we built a checklist for your store to follow for success over the holiday.
1. Prep Your Back Room
With the Fourth of July landing so close to the end of the month, you’ll probably just have completed an inventory count. Take your end of June inventory to re-evaluate what’s in your inventory in person. If there are any messy areas, make the time to tidy it up. Replace broken bins and ensure products are following first in, first out (FIFO) organization. In fact, while you have your team working in the vault, go through our checklist for expediting your inventory count:
2. Plan for Loyalty
This is absolutely worth the credits or minutes or whatever units you’re using in your loyalty program- you have to be ready to send a message to customers about your sales. If you’re doing an email campaign, be sure to include links to your website or your ordering platform. If you have the capabilities to include an image in your text message, create one that showcases all your specials and your hours of operation. Even if your store isn’t running any special sales, send a message out with some of your everyday deal pricing and your store hours.
3. Touchbase on Security Training
The holiday brings a lot of out-of-towners or people who are looking to party, and that makes it a great time to re-train on security and ID checking. Your security team needs to all be on the same page with procedures, protocol for de-escalation, and any code words. In addition to your security team members, it’s a good time to retrain your front desk staff on ID checking. ID checking is a major factor for security and compliance in any dispensary. Be sure to have your staff know all about your home state license formats and some of your neighboring states that may travel for the holiday. We have a lot of ways to prevent shoppers with fake IDs from ending up on your salesfloor. If you want resources on how to spot a fake ID in your state, check out our guide: 
4. Let Loose (Compliantly)
The summer holidays have a generally more laid back energy, especially compared to the end of year holidays. Update your in-store’s playlist to be a little more up tempo and more fun. Refresh some of the plants (not just the medicated ones!) on your salesfloor. Reach out to your brand partners and see if they have any spare swag for your team or shoppers- lanyards, stickers, lighters, whatever it is get your hands on it and give back to your team and shoppers. If you have a brand that gives you a stack of stickers, have budtenders drop them in exit bags (as long as that is allowed in your are!). If your budget allows, do an internal sales contest with your sales team. It can be something as simple as the highest check average or, if one of your brand partners is open to providing a gift, the most SKUs sold from a specific brand.
5. Stress-free Sales Kit
A quick run-through of some items that can be helpful to have handy for your staff over an epic sales weekend:
▢ Backup chargers for any iPads or tablets so nothing loses power
▢ Mobile hotspot in case internet goes down
▢ Extra coin change and small bills
▢ Hand sanitizer for shoppers and staff
▢ Extra bathroom supplies
▢ Counterfeit detector pens
▢ Printer ink in case last minute signs or displays need to be made
▢ Extra business cards
▢ Extra exit bags
It’s always particularly good to be prepared in extreme weather- both hot and cold. Extreme weather conditions can cause power outages or other irregularities. Fourth of July is traditionally blazing hot, so be sure to have some back up power resource(s) just in case.
6. Make Dispensary Payment Easier
Travelers who come into your dispensary may not always know the intricacies of buying regulated cannabis. Some may be shocked to find out so many dispensaries are cash-only, and may not be ready for a purchase. Make things easier for these shoppers with a cashless ATM solution. Giving your customers another option to pay makes it easier for them to shop seamlessly and can encourage a higher average order value. Our partners who utilize Alleaves PAY typically see a 25-35% increase in average order value versus those who do not have a cashless option.
