New Mexico Legacy Cannabis Company Closes: Sacred Gardens Shuts Down

In the unforgiving landscape of New Mexico’s cannabis industry, even the giants fall. Sacred Garden, a staple of the marijuana scene since 2010, is closing its doors on September 21, 2024. After more than a decade of serving customers, the vertically integrated chain simply couldn’t hold its ground in a market that’s become a battlefield.

“It’s just too much,” says Carla Padilla, manager of Sacred Garden’s Las Cruces dispensary. “There’s so much competition, the market is so overly saturated, that we’re just not making money.” And she’s not wrong. New Mexico, which legalized recreational cannabis in 2021, now has over 1,000 retail licenses floating around. What was once a gold rush has turned into a survival game where only the well-capitalized make it out alive.

Sacred Garden’s seven dispensaries—from Santa Fe to Albuquerque, Las Cruces to Ruidoso—are all slated to close. In the meantime, a fire sale is underway, with products flying off the shelves at 50% off. But this isn’t a celebration. It’s a somber end to a company that, by all rights, should have been a winner. They weren’t just fighting other dispensaries—they were battling legal wars over tax policies and health code violations. Those fights drained them, running up legal fees that hit seven figures and dragged the company into financial quicksand.

Nicole Fuchs from the Southwest Cannabis Trade Association sees the bigger picture. “It’s survival of the ones with the most money,” she says. Sacred Garden, despite its legacy, couldn’t outlast the storm. And they won’t be the last. Off the Charts, a California-based chain, recently shuttered its Albuquerque location on Menaul Blvd due to the same relentless saturation. The Las Cruces shop remains open for now, offering sales up to 45%, perhaps signaling a last-ditch effort to stay relevant or part of a larger exit strategy.

Yet, in the midst of all this doom and gloom, Ben Lewinger of the New Mexico Cannabis Chamber of Commerce offers a counterpoint: “There are still plenty of businesses doing just fine.” Businesses like Enchanted Botanicals, with two locations in the most congested city (Albuquerque), they have a MoM growth of .9% from July ‘24 to August ‘24.

New Mexico’s cannabis market has evolved into something raw, relentless, and not for the faint of heart. What started as a dream for many is now a brutal game of survival, and Sacred Garden is the latest casualty.