ABOVE: Fairmont Liquor Store Associate Guillermo Diaz stands with an assortment of THC drinks, which have outsold expectations since first being sold beginning May 1.

FAIRMONT – With just one month of sales under his belt, Fairmont Municipal Liquor Store Manager Tom Donnelly said THC is making a sizable impact.

The drinks had been available in municipal stores across the state for several months before Fairmont’s inclusion started on May 1. Donnelly said the high praise for THC ended up being enough for them to pursue it.

“All that have had it already said ‘It’s going good, you got to get it into your store. It’s not going away.’ After talking to the city council, they agreed because there are already a couple of places in town that have it. We got so many suppliers coming down the woodwork that want to have their product in your store.”

Approval from the city wasn’t the only hurdle they had to jump. Donnelly said they had to have discussions with their bank so the credit card machines would take THC purchases.

“Our bank is pretty strict on what you have and making sure it’s all state-regulated and fits their standards,” he said. “They all got to present their samples to make sure they’re under the state-regulated quantities.”

All in all, the process took longer than Donnelly anticipated but he’s grateful he got the process going when he did. Not only were other municipal shops spreading the news of THC’s profits, but the demand was already there from locals.

“‘When’s it coming?'” Donnelly said people asked frequently. “We had a lot of people ask for it before we got it, which persuaded us to get it going faster.”

The rollout of products happened gradually. Donnelly said they only sold singles at first, to keep the price point low and make it more feasible for patrons to try without making a larger monetary commitment.

“That worked well,” he said. “It persuades them to try it, and then they’re buying the bigger packages now.”

Even with the expectations set by the pre-sale demand and information from other municipal liquor stores, Donnelly said sales are currently exceeding expectations.

“In a lot of respects, it’s doing a little better than I thought it was going to,” he said. “Talking with other stores, we’re doing better with it than they’re experiencing right now. It’s demographics and where you’re at.”

As for the numbers, Donnelly said it’s too early to tell just how much of a boost they’re receiving from THC, and how much the sales are cutting into other products.

“You don’t know what the drinker was drinking before,” he said. “Are those sales going down? I’ve heard wine sales get hurt a little bit. Your seltzer waters are hurting a little bit because those are your customers. It’s interesting to see, but we’ll have to wait and see after a year or so to see graphs out.”

There has also been a lack of pushback, with no complaints received by Donnelly regarding their choice to sell THC.

“I was really surprised,” he said. “I thought there’d be a little more questioning, but none at all.”

Depending on preliminary findings, Donnelly said it’s possible they could also sell THC gummies and edibles down the line. With THC sales, Donnelly said it’s usually 70 percent drinks and 30 percent edibles so drink sales would have to be big enough to support stocking edibles.

For more information, visit https://liquor.fairmont.org/ or call 507-238-2269.