Anti B&M

[Jenn Perry]

I am very lucky I have 2 BnMs in my area one is fantastic reasonable prices...great juices they make fresh to order....And they have abit of a mark up but they match online prices for me. The other...well the guys are duche bags can't stand them HUGe mark ups and terrible juices

 

[Craig_B]

I really enjoyed having a B&M locally for a minute. I have one about 15min away and they quit stocking the juice I like, and I bought a lot of it! They replaced it with a different flavor from the same vendor. The other B&M they have a great amount of juice that is made on site but don't even carry RDAs and only a mod or two! Then the owner flashes his, I paid $400 for this mod they are so hard to get, then toots a big cloud. I'm thinking to myself I see why you charge $69.95 for an MVP! And blow a similar cloud with my less than $50 clone and clone rda! Ya definitely over local shops!!

 

[Ohms Lawbreaker]

Basically 2 kinds of B&Ms: Pro Shops and Noob Shops. Either can be good or bad, but usually the latter is bad. Pro Shops will have more selection and possibly know a little more about vaping and serving customers. Noob Shops are really just there to sell Baby's First E-Cig kits and juice at ridiculous markups, don't care if the same person shows up twice because of the steady stream of noobs out there, and are generally dumb as a grommet about vaping.

Said this in another thread I think but is worth repeating: The few B&M owners I read at ECF seem great. Because they read what is going on around here, like so many other shop owners need to do.

 

[thirtyfour41]

The B&M's here in NJ aren't really all that, price wise, at least from what I've seen. Yes, some stuff is marked up and yes, you can definitely get stuff cheaper online, but I like to support the local business. PLUS, these guys usually know just as much if not more than I do, so it's nice sometimes to have good conversation with a fellow vaper, as I don't really have any vaper friends. No, I won't be paying 30 bucks for a Protank or 20 bucks for heads, but if I am in desperate need of a yard of kanthal, a foot of wick, battery etc, I'm all about instant gratification. But when it comes to mods and tanks, I'll stick to online for now.

 

[Craig_B]

The B&M's here in NJ aren't really all that, price wise, at least from what I've seen. Yes, some stuff is marked up and yes, you can definitely get stuff cheaper online, but I like to support the local business. PLUS, these guys usually know just as much if not more than I do, so it's nice sometimes to have good conversation with a fellow vaper, as I don't really have any vaper friends. No, I won't be paying 30 bucks for a Protank or 20 bucks for heads, but if I am in desperate need of a yard of kanthal, a foot of wick, battery etc, I'm all about instant gratification. But when it comes to mods and tanks, I'll stick to online for now.

That's just it! The shops here either want to sell a $6 100ft spool for $20 and the other says its for display!! I'd love to be able to buy a yard of wire to try a new gauge before a bulk purchase! But I guess that its their business they can run it however they want! I'm willing to pay a bit more to support local business but you have to have something I want to buy!!

 

[Vaslovik]

About the only things a B&M has that I need are SS mesh and kanthal, and most of them here don't even have that. One store that had kanthal was selling it for $4 a foot! Yeow! Same price for silica wick.

I make my own juice far cheaper than their outrageous prices and it's better than anything I've ever gotten from them. Early on in my vaping I determined that I needed to be independent from the B&M's. Once I had a mech and RBA and made my own juices that was that. Anything I need now I just order online, and that's mostly juice ingredients, which the B&M's won't sell me.

 

[K_Tech]

Basically 2 kinds of B&Ms: Pro Shops and Noob Shops. Either can be good or bad, but usually the latter is bad. Pro Shops will have more selection and possibly know a little more about vaping and serving customers. Noob Shops are really just there to sell Baby's First E-Cig kits and juice at ridiculous markups, don't care if the same person shows up twice because of the steady stream of noobs out there, and are generally dumb as a grommet about vaping.

Said this in another thread I think but is worth repeating: The few B&M owners I read at ECF seem great. Because they read what is going on around here, like so many other shop owners need to do.

I would add one more category: The Jumping on the E-Cig Bandwagon to Turn a Quick Buck shop. There's one (supposedly) opening about 15 miles from my house. I know someone that is friends with the owner, and he doesn't give a hoot about vaping, he's just trying to get in, make some money, and get out when business dies.

He'll probably be the one with the $32 CE5s and the $120 HCigar Nemmy's.

 

[Kuljit]

My B&M that sells Innokin itaste mvp is selling $30 above online. I can wait a few days.

 

[sdennislee]

We have a store here in the suburbs of chicago called Quick Nic which makes their own juice, on premises, in a clean room. Prices are more than reasonable.

There is something about going into a vape store, placing an order, and having your juice made for you right there and then. I was concerned about the fact that it isnt steeped, but have yet to have any issues with any of it. Fantastic juice for the most part.

I will check them out next time I visit my Tinley Park office. Really like these type of juice vendors.

I visited Groove E Juice in Kent, Ohio a couple weeks ago. They mix your order while you watch. The line for can get long but well worth the wait. Besides they are in a really great old train station building.

 

[Nermal]

I am confused why governments, including the US, think that raising the price to such an obscene level is useful.

Your assumption is that governments are trying to reduce smoking by raising prices. If you assume they are instead trying to raise revenue, you might come to a different understanding.

 

[sdennislee]

I travel extensively for work. This allows me to visit several B&Ms per month. I find some really great shops with decent prices and then there are the others.

My worst experience to date was in a rather large shop with a decent selection of hardware and juice. I asked the the kid behind the counter what they had in the way of bridgeless attys, he told me all their tanks came with coils. Nice to know but doesn't really answer my question now does it. Is there an adult here I can talk to? To be fair I think all the shrapnel in his face had allowed some brain leakage.

I have found the Alt Smoke chain of shops in Ohio to a standout shop. Nice selection, large juice bar, knowledgeable staff. They seem eager to help, answer questions and I have never witnessed them pushing high $ equipment on the new guy.

Like any business there are the great ones, good ones and bad ones. Be careful not to lump them all together you may miss a winner.

 

[K_Tech]

Your assumption is that governments are trying to reduce smoking by raising prices. If you assume they are instead trying to raise revenue, you might come to a different understanding.

Not derailing, but it always comes down to two things, money and control. Usually both.

 

[shiddyshad]

When I first got into vaping with a simple 1100 mah battery mod and an iClear 16, I would go there at least once a week to try juices and buy atty heads. Got my first VV/VW device and things remained about the same. Then I got my first mech and got into rebuildables and I was just going there for juice. Soon though, once I started making better and better builds that kicked out more and more vapor and ate through assloads of juice, even buying liquid from my B&M was becoming not very affordable. I came to vaping from doing RYO, and up until I started going through 2 oz's of juice a week I wasn't really even saving any money. It was about right on par, as I was used to spending about $24 every 2 1/2 weeks to keep up my smoking habit. Once I found my sweet spot at around .6-.8 ohms with dual coils tho, I realized I HAD to start making my own juice. Now I'm hardly ever at the B&M. The only reason I do go is for the occasional battery, but usually it's because they'll sell me just the flavor concentrate for $1 per mL plus $1 for the bottle since they mix all their juices in house. However I still won't go to the B&M when it comes to any hardware. I'd rather wait three days than pay 50% more for a Youde dripper. When I buy online though, I do at least only buy from American companies, which I would suggest to anyone else who can't afford their B&M store prices.

 

[B1sh0p]

I'm not only anti B&M because of the ridiculous mark up. I'm anti B&M because nobody will benefit more from regulation. If online sales are stopped, who will benefit the most? The B&M's that are charging ridiculous prices. Why do you think so many are popping up despite the certainty of regulation? They aren't your friends.

 

[zanthious]

B&M shops wouldn't be soo marked up if they didnt think all the employees need Ipad Registers and 4 60" Flat screen Tv's lining the wall. The one down the road from me sells the silver bullets for 149.99.. They are 84.99 online.. Thats just greedy man. This place is always packed but i noticed that everytime i got for juice (THey have good juice) there are less and less people in line.

I am all for making a profit but marking everything up 80%+ is just stupid these days if you want to stick around.

 

[8dragon9]

I think selection plays a role, a lot of anti b&m people I hear from seem to have very few places, and options. Here there probably 9 stores in a 30mi radius, along with many head shops/venders. Competition does lead to better prices. I was happy paying what I paid for my svd, im alright with 6.00 juice, and im fine with 2.00 heads

sent from the s4 of DOOOM

 

[maybeshewill]

I get the anti B&M crowd's view. However, I do think this point is circumstantial.

I live in a country where there are lots of B&M stores, which means I have a wide variety of price comparisons. I also don't live in the states, so ordering anything from a US store will give me an incredible markup that just isn't worth it.
Ordering from inside the EU is a safer option for me, but again, sometimes something isn't worth buying from the net. If all I want is a 10ml bottle of juice to try it out, paying 5 euros + 5 in shipping is not as good an option as walking into a place and getting it for 6 euros.
Finally, I think it's good to put a little extra money into the local (and national) economy by supporting small business. It helps the market circulate.

Each to their own, obviously. I just think that each stance is based on circumstantial and locational factors.

 

[louis]

The wife buys all her juice at a local B&M. I make my own. We have never bought hardware form a B&M because of price. At the local shop, which is 25 miles away, the get a premium price on hardware. This is why our hardware comes USPS. Remember the online price has shipping added so the final price is higher than some B&M shops in the country. Also the more shops in the area the better the price because of that good old American word "Competition".
If you have multiple shops in your area check them all out. You will find a better price.

Rant over,
louis

 

[Frenchfry1942]

For me, the B&Ms are only good for juices. I can try before I buy. The mark-up on hardware is just to high for my wallet.

Jere

 

[awj03130]

B & Ms have much higher overhead than online stores thus vape gear will be more expensive. My local vape shop is more expensive than online stores, but not by that much. I don't mind paying extra to have a place to hang out, sample juices, and buy equipment on the spot.

I would really hate to relapse on analogs while waiting for a week for kanthal or juice...

I think the convenience, the "safety net" if you will, the ability to hold things like mods and see if the button sucks for your hand or whatever, and the community make it my JOB to keep the B&Ms in business. Have you ever dropped $300 on a mod only to figure out after getting it in the mail that it pinches the web of your hand? Now that's a bad day...


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