PROCURECULTURE
Market Watch · Illinois
An independent buyer’s perspective
Market Watch
The Illinois shelf, month over monthJuly toAugust.
Shoppers stick with value ounces as disposables squeeze out the cart. Who gained, who slipped, and what the numbers can’t explain yet.
State tally
Adult-use sales
August 2026 · IDFPR
$122.7M
▼ 2.6% vs. July
- Items sold4.86M
- Per item$25.27
- Out-of-state~20%
Rounded. Taxes excluded.
FactFrom the source
Our readA buyer’s take, labeled as one
UnknownNot in the data. We don’t guess.
A closer look
What changed since July
- Ascend slipped the mostIts share fell from 8.7% to 8.0%, the biggest drop of any operator. Its two flower brands, Simply Herb and Ozone, cut prices about 4% and still sold 11 to 12% fewer units.
- Two vape price increases, two resultsSelect raised its average price 7%, sold 25% fewer units and fell from #1 to #2. Fernway raised its price 3%, sold 8% more and moved from #5 to #3.
- Cartridges are leaving the top of vapeThey held 3 of the top 20 vape SKUs in July and 1 in August.
- Smaller operators gained the most shareFernway, Revolution and Canopy USA all grew while most of the big operators stayed flat or slipped.
- Ounces held their ground13 of the top 20 flower SKUs were 14g or 28g packs, up from 12 in July.
The state of the state
A small dip after the best month.
FactIllinois adult-use dispensaries sold $122.7 million in August. That’s a slight drop from July’s $126.0 million, the highest month of 2026 so far, and it brings the year to about $933 million through August. The average item sold for about $25.27, up from $24.85 in July, so the dip came from fewer items sold (down 4.2%), not lower prices.
FactBDSA’s numbers show a similar pullback. Branded sales across medical and adult-use came to about $126 million in August, down from about $134 million in July.
UnknownComparing to last year isn’t straightforward. The state switched to the Metrc tracking system in mid-2025, and IDFPR says earlier months “collected some pre-discount prices.” That makes 2025 dollar totals look higher than they really were, so we won’t report a year-over-year dollar change. Unit counts hold up better: August 2026 items were about 8.5% higher than August 2025. Even that is approximate, because the rollout also changed how some sales were reported.
Fig. 1Adult-use sales by month, 2026
IDFPR · $ millions · zero baseline
Eight months, one shape: a slow climb, a July peak, a small step back.
The operators
Five companies, half the shelf.
FactThe five biggest operators (GTI, Cresco, Ascend, Verano and Curaleaf) held about 52% of branded dollars in both months. The mix within that group shifted. GTI and Cresco each gained share. Ascend lost the most of any operator, falling from 8.7% to 8.0%, which is about $1.5 million less month over month.
Fig. 2Share of branded dollars
BDSA · Illinois
Source: BDSA, Illinois, July and August 2026. Chart by ProcureCulture.
Our readIllinois is still a vertical-operator market, but the fastest growth in August came from smaller companies: Fernway, Revolution and Canopy USA. For a buyer, the big-operator slots are mostly settled. The real decisions are in the next tier down.
The flower
The ounce is the product.
FactHigh Supply (Cresco) sold $7.7 million of flower in August, almost twice as much as #2 Rythm ($4.1M), and it held #1 every month from May through August. High Supply averaged $4.29 per gram, compared with $5.29 for Rythm.
FactOf the top 20 flower SKUs, 13 were 14g or 28g packs in August, up from 12 in July. Most of those large packs sold for about $3.40 to $4.40 per gram. The best-selling single SKU in both months was Rythm Animal Face 3.5g at about $32, or roughly $9 per gram.
Our readShoppers buy ounces for value and eighths for a specific brand. A flower menu needs both on purpose: a dependable value tier at 14g and 28g, plus a short list of eighths people ask for by name.
Fig. 3Top five flower brands
BDSA · June / July / August · $M
$7.73M
High Supply
Cresco
▼ 2% since June
$4.14M
Rythm
GTI
▲ 6% since June
$2.75M
Simply Herb
Ascend
▼ 31% since June
$2.63M
Good Green
GTI
▼ 15% since June
$2.26M
Ozone
Ascend
▼ 26% since June
Top five flower brands by August dollars. Source: BDSA. Chart by ProcureCulture.
The vape
The cartridge is losing the shelf.
FactIn July, three of the top 20 vape SKUs in Illinois were cartridges. In August, only one was. Every other top-20 vape SKU in August was a disposable, and 16 of them were 2,000mg devices.
Fig. 4Top 20 vape SKUs, by format
BDSA · one block = one SKU
Same twenty slots, a month apart. Count the hatched ones.
July: 17 disposables, 3 cartridges
August: 19 disposables, 1 cartridge
vape top 20, July to August
| Vape brand | July | Aug | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| &Shine (GTI) | $2.86M | $2.96M | ▲ 3% |
| Select (Curaleaf) | $3.60M | $2.86M | ▼ 21% |
| Fernway | $2.17M | $2.48M | ▲ 14% |
| Savvy (Verano) | $2.55M | $2.36M | ▼ 7% |
| JOOS (NGW) | $2.48M | $2.25M | ▼ 9% |
Top five vape brands. Source: BDSA.
The price test
Two price hikes, two outcomes.
FactSelect went from #1 in July to #2 in August. Its average unit price rose 7% (from $41.99 to $45.04) while its units fell 25%. Fernway went from #5 to #3, with units up 8% even though its average price rose 3% to $52.16. Its Traveler Pro disposables, at about $64, held the top two vape SKUs in the state in August.
Fig. 5Price vs. units, July to August
BDSA · % change
Select’s shoppers left when the price went up. Fernway’s stayed.
Our readA high price isn’t what holds a top vape back. If cartridges still take up most of your vape shelf, your mix is behind what’s actually selling. Check your own sell-through after a price change before blaming the brand.
The rest of the menu
Pre-rolls climb. Edibles split.
The one category growing at the top
FactThe top five pre-roll brands grew about 4% from June to August, while the top five flower brands shrank about 11%. Dogwalkers ($2.73M) and Rythm ($2.18M) held #1 and #2 in both months. Jeeter fell from $1.25M in July to $1.13M in August. Infused 5-packs (0.5g each, around $29 to $30) were the best-selling format among the SKUs we could see.
UnknownThe product-level pre-roll rankings we had were filtered to a few operators, so we can’t publish a full statewide top 20 yet.
No clear leader
FactWana, Wyld and Incredibles each sold about $1.0 to $1.1 million in both months. Incredibles dropped from #2 to #3 as its units fell about 8%. The #20 brand still sold about $0.3 million. Average unit prices ran from under $8 (Ozone, Savvy) to about $19 (Lost Farm, Camino).
Our readWith no dominant brand, edibles is where a buyer has the most room to choose. You need a value tier, a mid tier and a premium tier, and the gaps between price points matter more than which brand is on the package.
A two-brand race
FactAeriz and Rythm are close at about $0.5 million each. No one else passes $0.3 million, and Mozey slipped from #4 to #7.
Fig. 6Edibles, top 20 brands, August
BDSA · $M, rounded
For order day
The Q4 buyer’s checklist.
A closer look
Five checks before you order
- Price your 14g and 28g flower against $3.40 to $4.40 a gram. Above that, expect ounce shoppers to buy somewhere else.
- Count your vape SKUs. If cartridges outnumber disposables, rebalance toward 2,000mg devices.
- Carry Simply Herb or Ozone? Ask your rep about supply and pricing before the Q4 order.
- Give infused 5-packs a permanent spot on the pre-roll menu.
- Set three edible price tiers, and stop paying for slots that duplicate each other.
Sources and method
State totals come from IDFPR’s Adult Use Cannabis Monthly Sales Figures (adult-use only, taxes excluded). Brand, operator and SKU figures come from BDSA retail sales tracking for Illinois, July and August 2026, medical and adult-use combined, so they won’t match IDFPR exactly. BDSA updates earlier months as new data comes in; July comparisons use the most recent July figures. Changes and all charts are by ProcureCulture.
Disclosure
The editor works as a cannabis buyer at an Illinois dispensary that shares sales data with BDSA, and that dispensary buys from several of the operators named here. ProcureCulture receives no payment from any brand or operator mentioned.