Luck Runs Out: Seven Clover Closures & MSB Woes
Seven Clover, once a prominent player in New Mexico’s market, may have shut down all retail operations—abruptly and without public notice. While the doors are closed, with none of the stores’ phone lines operational, and all online menus vacant. The warning signs may have been there, hidden in plain sight.
Exit Wounds
From October 2024 to February 2025, companywide revenue dropped nearly 40%, with nearly every location reporting a steady, month-over-month decline. It was a slow bleed, with no signs of stabilization. Their largest store in Rio Rancho fell from $115,000 to just over $60,000 in monthly sales. The once-strong Juan Tabo location slipped under $45,000 by February.
Adding Fuel…
In 2023, the company leaned into high-profile partnerships with celebrity brands—Jim Belushi’s Belushi’s Farm, Ricky Williams’ Highsman, and Toby Keith’s Big Dog Cannabis Co. These moves may have seemed like a power play, but they likely accelerated the downfall. Celebrity licensing is expensive, requiring marketing spend, inventory commitments, and shelf space that must be earned through demand. In Seven Clover’s case, the math didn’t add up.
The collapse wasn’t sudden. It was a slow-motion nosedive brought on by market oversaturation, rising operational costs, and overextension on brand partnerships. Without a buyer or bailout, there was only one way left to go—down.
Celebrity/MSB Deals & You,
It would seem celebrity and MSB brand licensing isn't the golden ticket everyone hoped for—especially in markets like New Mexico, where local loyalty, price sensitivity, and authenticity matter more than flashy names and coastal hype.
Everyone saw Cookies blow up and thought they could clone the model—buy a brand name, slap it on a mylar, and rake in the cash. But Cookies isn’t just a brand, it’s a lifestyle ecosystem, and more importantly, it was built from the ground up with a cult following. You can’t just buy that vibe out of state and expect it to move weight, but why not, everyone else seems to do it…
Quick Flips
If you're sitting on $1,500 packs and think rebranding them with a hype name will get you $2,200, you're dreaming—unless there's real marketing behind it.
Good brands want licensing fees, but if they’re not boots on the ground, or helping push product with promo dollars, what are you paying for? Traceability makes it easy for customers to see who really produced it, either through the COAs or the compliance label. And if the quality hits the same as last week’s $30 eighth, why would they pay $45 today? And if you want the retailer to buy your $2200 packs now with the fancy logo, how much do they have left for your own branded stuff?
Conclusion
The worst thing that can happen, is getting stuck with packaging. Either because the MSB thought they could just use out of state packaging, or or didn’t anticipate having to add more compliance info as sublots are made (production people know what im talking about). Now you have reprint all those labels; guess what just happened to those precious margins? That’s money you will never recoup, especially when half the retailers can serve deli style which seems to be the fan favorite in New Mexico. In a value-driven market like New Mexico, branding alone doesn’t move weight. Without quality, consistency, and actual demand generation, it’s just a logo—and in some cases, a bad bet.
