You'll find this common in retail. Retailers like to deal with only one or 2 suppliers to keep their purchasing volume at a level where they receive X% wholesale discount. If they buy a little here and a little there, then their price goes up because they don't meet the threshold for a better discount on inventory.
However, I do find it odd that he would rather stay out of stock of something than buy some, even on Amazon, to keep his customers happy. That is a bad business decision on his part. Stay out of stock long enough and customers will find another source.
All in all, sounds like you have a decent shop there. I suspect this is not the norm these days in the USA.
Put a ''agree'' on your post because i think you hit the nail on the head with your last phrase.
I think it's more of a situation that happens in the US and Canada,here in Europe it does work differently.
Yeah we got the big supermarkets where you can buy anything from cheese to a Playstation 5 but we still use a lot of the privately owned Small businesses.
Like 2 blocks from my home we actually got a cobbler,family owned bussiness which the current owner inherited from his pops.
He is the guy that patches up my shoes,or maybe put them in that thingy to stretch them out a bit if my feet hurt or maybe just makes another hole in my belt,he knows my name and when i walk in he always asks how my pops is doing.
Difference in shopping habits i think has to do more with geography and customs than anything else.
It does sadden me to hear vape shops get so much bad rep over there in the US,i mean i don't know if it's deserved or not but it still saddens me.
Shop owners here are different,it's like the theme song of that ol' tv series Cheers:
Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name
And they're always glad you came
I don't know how it happens over in the US but over here a lot of people actually quit smoking because of vape shops.
Got one in the town i live and when i go to Valencia or Alicante (bigger cities) i got a couple more i like to visit once in a while.
Seen new clients walk in,type of customer that never vaped before but wants to quit smoking and all i saw from the owners or employees is a willingness to help them get started.
They took the time to walk them thru all the choices and never recommended them any of the ''higher end'' gear just to make more money on a sale.
I have seen people going in the store as newbies and the owner/employee could have easily sold them gear and e-liquid worth a couple hundred euros but they didn't do so,they just steered them in the direction of a nice starter kit to get them started and not have them overwhelmed with all the learning that comes from using a RBA with a mod that uses a replaceable battery.
I think that also a determing factor has to do with the distance,i mean i still remember when i lived in Canada all those hours i spent in the car driving to places,everything was so far away...20 km to highschool,another 15 km to the supermarket and so on and so on.
In that case well yeah save yourself a trip because you can just order whatever you want and have it delivered to your front door.
Here in the town i live,i grab the car and park in the centre of town and i basically have all i need in a 2 km radius,from banks to specialty shops of anything that you can think of.
Me personally? if were in a better economic situation i would buy exclusively at my friends vape shop,feels good to support the local bussinesses but you know sometimes you on a budget so you gotta look out for offers and try to save money when you buy something.
