Bigger Isn’t Always Better For Cannabis Companies Trying to Survive Pandemic

  • Operators with narrow specialties fare well amid industry woes
  • As legalization unfolds, Virginia and Utah seen as key states

      

Photographer: Ben Nelms/Bloomberg
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Cannabis companies are learning that to survive the pandemic, bigger isn’t necessarily better.

Specialized operations and a narrow geographic footprint are buoying marijuana providers such as Trulieve Cannabis Corp. at a time when the broader industry is struggling with falling demand and capital constraints. That’s a shift from a few years ago, when exuberance in the market pushed cannabis companies to expand their reach across the nation in a hasty land grab, which has left many onetime heavyweights overextended.