“4.21, The Day After…”: New Mexico Market Summary April 26’
April is the unofficial stoner holiday we all know and love, and while New Mexico saw an increase in sales compared to last year, not every operator got a chance to see it.
April numbers are out, and the story is simple: New Mexicans made more money with fewer stores.
April Showers
Looking at April year over year shows just aggressive this markets maturity rate is.
2022 → 2023 was the land rush.
Sales grew roughly 16.8%, but retailer count exploded 142%. Average revenue per store was cut in half almost overnight. Everybody wanted in, and suddenly too many operators were fighting over the same customer.
2024 was peak saturation.
Total sales reached their highest point at $51.1M, but average revenue per store continued sliding. More stores kept opening, but the pie wasn’t growing fast enough to support them all.
2025 showed the first real contraction.
Total sales dropped about 4.9% while store count dipped slightly. Closures started happening. Weaker operators burned out.
Now 2026 is showing the first real signs of stabilization.
Store count dropped from 670 to 613, while average revenue per store climbed back to nearly $80k. That matters. Fewer stores competing for roughly the same amount of money means surviving operators are beginning to reclaim market share.
And nowhere is this shift more obvious than Albuquerque.
Graham Central Station
Between April 2023 and April 2024, Albuquerque added 36 retailers. Between 2024 and 2025, around 20 disappeared. Between 2025 and 2026, another 37 dropped off the map landing at 165 active retailers. And that doesn’t even account for license transfers, acquisitions, or operators quietly changing names.
Meanwhile, some of the largest banners in the state — Oasis, Vireo, Chadcor, PurLife, and Urban Wellness — continue to dominate market share, but several have started showing signs of stagnation compared to faster-moving competitors.
Operators like PVP, P37, Verdes, and Dispensary Near Me are showing strong momentum month-over-month, proving there’s still room to grow for businesses adapting faster than the market around them.
Long Bar
On the production side, the market is shifting again, and starting to dry up.
Producer counts dropped again from 367 to 354 month-over-month, But reported plant counts jumped from roughly 475.4k to 530.9k plants. Fewer producers are controlling more canopy.
Last year, cheap packs at $200–$300 were everywhere. Now operators are scrambling for low-tier flower again as demand for hash holes, infused pre-rolls, and extraction material continues climbing. If this trend continues, floor pricing on lower-tier flower may finally begin recovering.
Lotus
And hanging over all of us is Schedule III; investors, venture capitalist, sharks…
Whether it happens tomorrow or years from now, the conversation alone is already changing behavior. M&A chatter is getting louder by the week.
Investor groups tied to major operators, including groups associated with Jushi, have already begun reaching into New Mexico looking for assets and acquisition opportunities. So if you you already have one foot out the door, and the other on a banana peel, you might want to reach out instead of waiting for a strong breeze.
