MN Market Update

March 5, 2026

Minnesota's cannabis market is starting to ramp up, and I wanted to share the deep dive into the data that I did to prepare for a Market Update for Lucky Leaf's Education Day.

First, check out the Minnesota Star Tribune's helpful map of Minnesota's dispensaries that have adult-use flower for sale! They also note ones that are tribal, municipal, and/or medical dispensaries.

Image from the Minnesota Star Tribune.com, “Map: See where you can legally buy marijuana in Minnesota,”

Map available here , last updated 2/23/26, accessed 2/24/26

As of February 23, 2026, this listed 61 total dispensaries, as follows:

Data derived from the Minnesota Star Tribune.com, “Map: See where you can legally buy marijuana in Minnesota,”

Map available here , last updated 2/23/26, accessed 2/24/26

You can look at the list of the dispensaries (and click through to their websites) from the Star Tribune's page. As I look at this list, my impression is: most if not all are single-location, homegrown Minnesota businesses. Strong local brand Legacy Cannabis has 3 locations around Minnesota, and 2 bear the name Wildflower, but otherwise all are different. In other words: MSOs are not yet in Minnesota, other than our two longstanding medical providers, Green Goods and Rise, who were allowed to open all of their locations to adult-use as well as medical sales in fall 2025.

As I have said for years, this market will be opened by social equity & microbusinesses. But many, many more licensees are not far behind - some big, and some small.

Here's more data, this time from the MN-OCM. Their helpful Market Dashboard gives a lot of information about the industry. As of January 31, here's how many licenses OCM had issued (note that this does not reflect the tribal part of the industry at all, just OCM-regulated licenses):

Chart from Cannabis Market Dashboard, available here, last updated 1/31/26, accessed 2/24

We can see that there are 4 Cultivator licenses across the finish line, 3 Mezzos, 5 Retailers, etc., and the largest single group is the Microbusinesses, with a total of 108 licenses granted. (Note that licenses granted does not mean the business is actually open, but you do have to have completed your build-out and be ready to open in order to receive a license.)

That data is only the tip of the iceberg, though. Other data from OCM shows us just how many groups are still working towards a license.

Look at the data in green below - while 4 Cultivation licenses have been issued, another 24 Cultivation licenses are in preliminary approval status, plus another 22 farther behind in qualified applicant status. For mezzos, there are 50 more in preliminary approval status, and another 41 farther behind in qualified applicant status. And the micros? 1,105 in preliminary approval status and 347 in qualified applicant status. Thinking about the number of dispensaries above, focus on the Retailers: 86 in preliminary approval status and 70 in qualified applicant status - and each of those Retail licenses allows up to 5 locations.

In other words, to analogize to a marathon - a few have crossed the finish line, and there are a lot of people behind them who are still finishing the last few miles.

Data in green is compiled from OCM Application and License Holder Data, available here, last updated 2/23/26, accessed 2/25

My takeaway? We're going to experience a huge wave of openings in every category this spring and summer, including some big-name brands from out of state.

Soon, Minnesota will go from having no adult-use dispensaries to having too many. And who will survive? Those who built loyal customer bases, were careful with their cost structure, and navigated compliance effectively.

That's why I'm accepting a Spring Cohort into the North Star Accelerator Program, to help licensees build compliant and profitable small businesses, together. Get more information here.

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