Minimum services / supplies a B&M should provide?

[bobrob]

A bit of a rant, and a related question.

I visited a new vape store that shall remain nameless. It has been open about a month. The guy behind the counter was nice enough, and I enjoyed talking to him. He only had some rather mediocre juice and a bunch of Ego type batteries for sale. Not even any drip tips for sale (aren't those high margin items?) Although he seemed to want to be a vaping expert, he had never seen an MVP 2 before, and really didn't understand that my Zmax wasn't rechargeable. When I told him it took 18350 batteries, he gave me a blank look (I took it out and showed him, but he still didn't get it). I also had to explain what my Kayfun Lite was, and when I told him I could rebuild Kanger heads he asked me to write down my name and number for reference.

I don't expect random vapers to know everything. I know that I don't. But, jeez, this guy is running a vape shop for pete's sake. If I had asked him to rebuild my Kayfun coil, he wouldn't even know what I was asking. If someone came in with a mech mod and a question about safety, they might get killed (ok, that is a bit hyperbolic).

So my question is: what do you think the minimum services and equipment a brick and mortar should provide are?

 

[Katmar]

First off, I think they should be knowledgeable about everything E cig related, and they should carry a variety of supplies. Different brands, batteries, tanks, cartos, eliquids, coils, etc.. They should be able to help you understand all about vaping. Otherwise, why bother having a vape store??

 

[Deryan3]

First off, I think they should be knowledgeable about everything E cig related, and they should carry a variety of supplies. Different brands, batteries, tanks, cartos, eliquids, coils, etc.. They should be able to help you understand all about vaping. Otherwise, why bother having a vape store??

I agree, if that is the nucleus of the store then they should have adequate knowledge of the products they are selling. IMO they should have a juice bar to really promote the liquids available, the R.O.I would be worth it.

 

[maravilla]

It sounds like either he doesn't own the shop and may be there just to help out with business or he jumped on a wagon in attempt to reap the benefits of what could potentially be very lucrative.

 

[Cool-breeze]

There have been tons of ppl trying to capitalize on vaping. I def agree they should be knowledgable on what they sell. I guess if he doesn't sell rebuildables then him not knowing anything about it isn't a big deal to me. But its absurd (imo) to spend that kinda money opening a business and know so little.

 

[DaveP]

If it's a new store it takes time to train the customer service crew. Even if the owner is lucky they will go through a few people before finding those who are avid and knowledgeable vapers. It takes time to assemble people who are willing to learn and willing to work with customers to educate them and answer questions. Lots of customers come into a new vape store and they all expect the staff to know the product and be able to answer most any question.

I'm lucky to have Stormy's Vapor Cellar 5 miles from home. When I go in there, the help is carrying dripper/feeder box mods running 20 watts and blowing clouds. They know their stuff, but occasionally I get to tell them something they didn't already know (but not that often)!

I can walk into Stormy's and ask for anything. They go to the inventory rack behind the counter and come back with the right part. Carolyn, the owner, has trained them right. She comes from the vaping days when carts and fluval were the leading edge mods and few people really had the knowledge that is commonplace today. Reo was just beginning to get popular.

OTOH, I stopped into one of her competitor's Just One More shops the other day and they only had one counter section devoted to ecigs. The rest of the shop was water pipes and tobacco related items. He was impressed by the Kanger Aerotank on a Provari. He knew the Aerotank, but didn't recognize the Provari.

Knowledge is here and there.

 

[slyphex]

I went to a local B&M and the shop owner was so very nice, but wasn't very knowledgeable. He called everything in the shop either a nemesis or a genesis. We chatted for about a half hour and I ended up explaining to him the difference between a kayfun, telescoping mod, etc.

I am pretty sure he just bought a bunch of random things from a website and was trying to resell them.

But really, to be successful you need someone with business-smarts, someone who knows everything about ecigs, and people with great customer service skills.

Something that none of my local shops carry are replacement parts and I really wish they would. I can buy a 5 pack of kayfun insulators for $5 online. But when mine melts or breaks, I would run to the closest shop and happily pay $5 for one.

 

[Smellofcordite]

I totally have a love hate relationship with B&M shops in my area. There are many of them and most are fantastic. I have only run into one un-knowledgeable shop and it was because it was more focused on selling glass. This shop sold clones exclusively(Mechs, rebuildables, etc) but no one in the store knew anything about them. I had to give a quick lesson, so that no one got hurt or made the news(especially since they had the completely wrong batteries).

We all need to remember that there is another side of vaping that represents the ego/carto crowd that have know idea of ECF and just plain think we are silly for spending as much as we do on mods. The guy in this shop may not be harming anything if he is only selling the ego/cartos exclusively and not carrying any of the more knowledge intensive pieces of vaping hardware.

 

[gin828]

I think a B&M should have basic knowledge on everything vaping related. They should be extremely familar with any product they sell. They need to have more than ego batteries and some cheesy toppers. Nothing pi$$es me off more than when they sell rebuildables and dont have a good stock of coils, wire, cartos, and whatnots. A lot of people are opening vape shops just to cash in on the cheap junk and ..... juice.

 

[Dougk9589]

I believe that even if they don't carry more than ego's/ciga likes that they should have a knowledge of everything vaping related. Their is a local shop near me that has absolutely no clue about vaping and strictly sell ego starter kits and sub par juice and actually bash all other kinda of vaping and talk about how unsafe rbas/rda's are even though they can't fully explain why. I was in such shock I tried to inform them on rebuildables but had no desire to listen and I decided it be best to walk out of the store. It's just awful to me I mean we are battling against the FDA and congress and a shop like that just adds fuel to the fire.

Sorry but I have to say the name it is gloryvapes in Endicott NY