Most shoppers are familiar with “Black Friday” and “Small Business Saturday,” but dispensaries in Illinois are marking “Green Wednesday” this week.

Many dispensary owners in Illinois say that the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is one of their highest-earning days of the year, and have welcomed the blossoming of ‘Green Wednesday’ as an unofficial holiday of sorts.

“It’s an exciting day for us, our highest earning day in the cannabis world outside of 4/20,” Domanique White of Ivy Hall Dispensary said.

Ivy Hall says it expects to welcome around 10,000 customers over the long weekend, and as the city of Chicago’s first dispensary to receive a “social equity license” under state cannabis law, White says that high-grossing days can help the store to thrive and flourish.

“For us to be granted a license, it really helps Black and Brown people get their foot in the door in cannabis,” she said.

According to state data, cannabis sales totaled $1.6 billion last year, and “Green Wednesday” is a critical day on the calendar, with some stores estimating a 90% uptick in revenues compared to other Wednesdays in the month of November.

“We are trying to make it more accessible to customers, especially around the holidays,” The Mint Dispensary’s Rob Rabakozi said.

One of the driving forces behind cannabis’ rise in popularity has been a recent trend of younger Illinoisans moving away from alcohol and switching to legalized weed.

“I’ve noticed that the younger crowd isn’t as big into drinking. Also that typical M-F schedule where you go get drunk on the weekends isn’t a lifestyle anymore,” Rabakozi said. “I think people prefer to use cannabis and unwind and not wake up with a hangover the next day.”