Omg!! I went to a mall yesterday

[wickedalibi]

I am not a mall person, I only go to one about once a year. Took a 2 hour trip to the big city yesterday and noticed that there was a new vapor shop so I thought I would go in. I have been looking for a certain flavored juice that is elusive. I tucked my lanyard with my provari inside my coat and headed in. There were to other 2 customers and the girl behind the counter seemed knowledgeable. She was helping a lady with an all new setup (they had an ego clone type of ecig they were selling). She finished the sale and the customer got out the checkbook. OMG over $200 for a one 650 mah battery, a usb charger, 5 attys, and a 3 ml bottle of juice. I gasped, she looked at me, I said oh excuse me I just wanted to ask about liquid. 1 30ml of flavored 70pg/30vg 24mg juice $36, plus tax.

I wanted to scream run, run, run away!!!!! I just turned and walked away. I waited for the customer to come out of the shop and told her about ECF. I want to spend a weekend camped outside of this shop and hand out information!

 

[incantius]

lol go for it. i almost got banned from the local Best Buy for being helpful to customers looking to buy computers

 

[Richkellett888]

That's Insane!!! my wife's boss was vaping one of those 711 ecigs and saw my wifes inferno so she wanted an upgrade she ended up paying 150 for an ego t kit and a couple bottles of juice. I think she over paid.. The inferno has a pretty paint job too and with the passthrough extra battery and a couple other things it was still under 120. I got my "genuine" ego-t kit for under 60 bucks. I would post up too and let people know the real deal. thats alot of money you could have spent on drip tips, cartos and juice!

 

[wickedalibi]

lol go for it. i almost got banned from the local Best Buy for being helpful to customers looking to buy computers

I need a new computer!! wanna go to the mall?? There is a best buy next door to the vapor depot!!!

 

[incantius]

lol i think Montana is a bit farther than i want to go but PCs are better by far if you configure them yourself and buy from a reputable dealer...

 

[incantius]

PM Sent wicked

 

[Angi2299]

I stopped by a kiosk at a local mall a few weeks ago, just to check on juice prices (never know when an emergency may strike). Cost for a 15ml bottle ............. $20!!!??? So I told the guy that it seemed a little high. His response was that it was super concentrated and 1-2 drops equaled ONE cigarette. I just walked away shaking my head. Even in an emergency I would not buy juice from such a snake oil salesman. I would go to Walgreens and vape plain VG for a few days before I would buy product from such a dishonest person.

 

[X P3 Flight Engineer]

In defence, mall rent is outrageous, too! I wish for more stores to open up. I would pay for the convenience of shopping from a shelf rather than the time, shipping and waiting involved on-line.

I think we should encourage anyone who is promoting vaping, the more open it is, the more aware people become.

And while I write this my blood boils too at the difference in prices, but I don't think all the extra profit makes it to the merchant's pocket!

Actually, it's probably easier to find money-grabs on-line than in stores.

P.S. Been to a shoe store lately?!?!

 

[wickedalibi]

I know I had second thoughts later. Thinking about how much I would have given 6 months ago to quit the analogs. I agree anything that helps you get off of the analogs @ any price is a good thing. But for the $ spent in a month for that stuff you could have a provari, nice tank, and enough juice and cartos to last you for 6 months!

 

[Gabe1291]

I'm just glad we have a decent brick and mortar store here in Wichita. It's only $15 for a 65ml bottle there and he has the egos, 510 mega, and Boge cartos, so it's the perfect place to point all the people that are looking to get started I meet. We have a few of the mall vendors here with their junk kits as well though.

The biggest thing I have against the mall vendors here is the price they charge for complete JUNK. One has a base kit for around $200 and it's the same micro-sized auto batt that I got with my Blu when I started. I would find them a bit easier to swallow if they sold something that would help people instead of frustrate them. A guy I work with bought the mall kit, and was so disgusted with it he won't even discuss e-cigs at all.

If they did like the mall store I read about in a similar thread on here, I probably wouldn't mind. That kiosk sold ego batts, though granted at an exorbitant price, but gave a lifetime warranty on them. Which in the long run, isn't such a bad deal, considering how many ego batts I've had die on me it would pay for itself.

 

[Nikinic]

I too am lucky to have a brick and mortar store by me. I send all my business there way. I even gave my docotr a stack of business cards yesterday for the store As for mall prices I am glad that my first stop was to the local store and not a mall kiosk. I think I would have felt very ripped off and discouraged by those prices. Even though we are paying for better health many people can not afford to dish out 200 dollars for something they do not even know if they will like.

 

[MrsCasey]

I understand they have "mall rent" but I don't think that excuses charging 4 times what someone would pay for that set up online. There is a local brick and mortar shop near me and his prices are very fair. Sure he charges a couple dollars more for e-liquid or a pack of Cartos but he is paying higher overhead and is providing a great face to face service for when you need something quick, you have questions and for the walk ins who may never try ecigs if they were only available online. What the store you are talking about is doing is gouging! This could discourage people from trying ecigs and they may never get to the point where they are open to the concept again, that is a great shame and a disservice.

 

[X P3 Flight Engineer]

I understand they have "mall rent" but I don't think that excuses charging 4 times what someone would pay for that set up online. There is a local brick and mortar shop near me and his prices are very fair. Sure he charges a couple dollars more for e-liquid or a pack of Cartos but he is paying higher overhead and is providing a great face to face service for when you need something quick, you have questions and for the walk ins who may never try ecigs if they were only available online. What the store you are talking about is doing is gouging! This could discourage people from trying ecigs and they may never get to the point where they are open to the concept again, that is a great shame and a disservice.

I agree with the 'shame and disservice', my point was, first we get the merchants, then we get the competition.

In Canada (and, I believe, several other countries in the world) e-cigs that contain nicotine are not allowed to be advertised or promoted. The saying, "I complained because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet" springs to mind. I have no idea what extra I would be willing to pay to have a selection of nic juice available on a store shelf, because to me it would be priceless. Getting gouged would still get old in a hurry though!! lol

Before I got to ECF I was paying $5 for a cartomizer of 0 nic, (singles not available, $25 for 5) and happy (although not overjoyed) that it was available at a local store.

I guess our mission should be to spread the word about ECF so that people can make informed decisions, and it may be that the NOW factor is worth the extra money, but I detest if people are lied to, mislead, cheated or outright stolen from.

(Guess I won't be buying a car again)

 

[DC2]

I understand they have "mall rent" but I don't think that excuses charging 4 times what someone would pay for that set up online. There is a local brick and mortar shop near me and his prices are very fair. Sure he charges a couple dollars more for e-liquid or a pack of Cartos but he is paying higher overhead and is providing a great face to face service for when you need something quick, you have questions and for the walk ins who may never try ecigs if they were only available online. What the store you are talking about is doing is gouging! This could discourage people from trying ecigs and they may never get to the point where they are open to the concept again, that is a great shame and a disservice.

Of course you must be talking about E-Cig City in Laguna Beach?
It is a great store, and they host Vaper Meetups out on their patio quite often.

Any idea when the next one is?

 

[Suicidebob]

E-Cig City is legit. They're prices are amazing.

As for those mall shops. They are there to rob people...

 

[Myk]

I understand they have "mall rent" but I don't think that excuses charging 4 times what someone would pay for that set up online. There is a local brick and mortar shop near me and his prices are very fair. Sure he charges a couple dollars more for e-liquid or a pack of Cartos but he is paying higher overhead and is providing a great face to face service for when you need something quick, you have questions and for the walk ins who may never try ecigs if they were only available online. What the store you are talking about is doing is gouging! This could discourage people from trying ecigs and they may never get to the point where they are open to the concept again, that is a great shame and a disservice.

Actually it probably does justify it. In addition to the high rent malls also tend to have contracts where you have to be open certain hours. It's going to take at least 2 employees. At my state's minimum wage that $200 isn't even going to come close to covering one of those employee's wages.
I'm assuming a dedicated e-cig shop, how many customers do you think they have in a week?

Of course it's their choice to pay the mall rent but it's a catch-22 situation. Without the mall they don't have impulse buys and nobody knows about them. With the mall they can't afford to stay in business.

A lot of businesses no matter their locations don't think they should have to compete with the internet. They simply complain to the government.

I didn't consider local prices. I wonder if this is why my nephew went back to tobacco after his Blu died.

 

[hairball]

I was in MO in a mall. They sell Smoke Fifty-One's. Good grief...$190 for a 2 battery kit. You should have seen the look on the guy's face when I pulled out the artillery. I go in there whenever I'm up that way just to aggravate the sales clerk that waits on me.

 

[DC2]

I was in MO in a mall. They sell Smoke Fifty-One's. Good grief...$190 for a 2 battery kit. You should have seen the look on the guy's face when I pulled out the artillery. I go in there whenever I'm up that way just to aggravate the sales clerk that waits on me.

Knowing your artillery, that must have left a mark.

 

[Suicidebob]

Keep in mind, you are generally talking to a person who does not want to work there. That person is NOT the owner of that shop. It would make an impact if a vendor was there showing off some of the product he has- but showing off PV's you own to a teenage kid making 6-8 dollars an hour will not make any difference.

Not trying to burst ANYONE'S bubble. If anything, leave a few business cards to ECF's website on there on the counter without anyone looking.

 

[DC2]

Keep in mind, you are generally talking to a person who does not want to work there.

Yeah, what he said.