What bothers you with your local B&M

[geekmedic]

As the question implies.

I have three places to find LIMITED parts, accessories, and juice. At both places, the juice that they carry I have not heard of before and they don't know much about them other than 50/50 VG/PG nic level from 24-0mg. Plenty of flavors to choose from, a little on pricey too.

Now one of the shops is a head shop, a ton of items for the herb, and hookah. Every time I have been in the store it has plenty of traffic for the herb, a small selection of the usual e-cig stuff, and a few mods. They aren't very helpful and always talking about the current state of the legalization of MJ. Went in yesterday looking for a juice for an up coming wedding (not mine) and I wanted something a little different for the special occasion. The dude working behind the counter grabbed an assortment of juice and a battery for me to try out, but I couldn't get him to answer any questions about the flavors and what not, walked out and didn't buy anything, not the first time either.

The other shop is a smoke shop! One kid that works there is helpful and is pushy with mech mods (not my thing right now). They carry a little more selection of e-cig items, but most look like they have come from FT but at MFG prices. It too carries plenty of items for the herb, hookah, and smokes! Ugh!!! The main kid that does the vape stuff is into sub-ohm, seems knowledgeable enough. I've looked at his batteries and am skeptical buying one from him. (I will buy a battery form one of the trusted vendors here on ECF). Call me old, but I just don't get into that whole scene. Although some of the hardware are pure works of art. My current job does random drug screens and I just don't like being around a certain population, right know especially. I know that my local PD watches both of these places intently and have them under surveillance constantly.

I would like to find a VAPE shop, (the third option locally) but she had to close, due to insurance with the building. This place was great. Although she had limited knowledge about hardware but trying to learn. She made her own juices and shared her information, what kind of VG/PG, nicotine, she was using. Although her juice selection was a bit limited, she was always coming up with new flavors and took suggestions, prices were decent too . Once she made a juice just for me, asked me to come back in a weeks (after steeping) and give it try before putting it out on the shelf. How cool is that? I think some of her hardware did come from FT but she didn't have huge markups on them, satisfied I can't wait for the old man in the row boat syndrome.

So please tell me about your local B&M's, the good the bad and the ugly.

 

[KurrptSenate]

The store closest to me (about 4 minutes) used to carry nothing but bad house juice and overpriced clones. selection was very limited.

they slowly started getting more juice in, but nothing special. $13 for 15ml is not a good price IMO unless it's some seriously top-shelf juice. the owner who used to sell only clones is now anti-clone (but still sells clones). pretty much turned me off of his shop completely

I found another shop that is in 2 locations. they generally carry really good use so I started frequenting those shops. their hardware prices are pretty terrible so I would just buy juice there. there are a few people that build mods there so we have a common hobby.

a new shop just opened about 12 minutes from my work. good juice selection at competitive prices. they sell clones and authentics. their prices are awesome! $19 for a plume veil clone, $16 for a vertitas clone, etc. I don't enjoy the company as much as the store above but I like everything else about them so it's the only store I go to now.

 

[KiMB00P]

I have 2 shops I go to. One for repair help and questions about building coils, and the other one for juice because they make delicious in house juices.

Nothing really bothers me about any. Except the prices. Lol.

 

[K31Scout]

GT Vapors in Petoskey MI is the only vape shop within 75 miles of me and the staff is really helpful and knowledgeable, they carry a decent amount of stock. Some clones but mostly the real thing. Prices are more than most online shops but I'm OK with that considering the rent they pay and the convenience for me. They have at least 40 house brand ejuices free to sample. They make, on the spot, any pg/vg/nicotine mix.

My gripe is that I only found a few I really like. It's probably the little clearo tanks they have set up with over the hill coils in them.

 

[Vicshalls]

I have one right across the street from me. That was the first shop i ever went to. They used to do their own juice, but recenlty stopped cause they were not sure what was going to happed with the fda. They have ok juice in there now. the basic space jam and suicide bunny. I dont live in the best area so the shoppers really dont have the money to spend nor would they know what is all that good. They sell a ton of stuff but too high for my budget. I like them and all, but really never get much from them.

The second shop is not far about 10 miles i guess. They make their own juice and dont sell anyone elses juice but theirs. It is good too. They have a home store in another town that makes the juice then they send it out to the other stores around the state. They have mostly clones, but told me they are going to get away from that after the vape blast blow up. He is right does not matter what made the mod blow up all anyone is going to hear is where they bought it from. they said they are going to go towards authentic mods, but at a lower price point. said they know of some people so.....

third one is way on the other side of town. They sell only authentic stuff. very small selection, but they just opened about a month ago. they have juice i have only seen on line. classified, nicks blissful, alpha and omega and others i cant think of. that is where i go to get the juice for the most part. at least right now. The second place has brought back my favorite so of course i will be there more often now. lol

 

[WattWick]

The most bothering part is that there aren't any. Except one head shop that sells a handful of extremely overpriced knock-off clearos.

Can't sell e-liquid with nic in it in Norway. Not the ideal environment for opening a B&M, I guess.

 

[MamaRymes]

$1 per mL house juice. I have found one flavor that I like well enough to keep paying that price for. The rest of them (that I've tried) meh.

 

[Livionthetrack]

Question: what is B&M? -Sorry I'm new to this forum
And the local vape shop has a small selection and waayyyy over priced merchandise. The other store a little bit away is in the mall and has a pretty nice selection, but is also a head shop. Which I am trying to get away from. I'd like for a specialty shop to open up near me that doesn't overprice everything. For now I'll try online shopping.

 

[MamaRymes]

Question: what is B&M? -Sorry I'm new to this forum
And the local vape shop has a small selection and waayyyy over priced merchandise. The other store a little bit away is in the mall and has a pretty nice selection, but is also a head shop. Which I am trying to get away from. I'd like for a specialty shop to open up near me that doesn't overprice everything. For now I'll try online shopping.

B&M=brick and mortar

 

[SmokinRabbit]

I have three near me. All about a 5-7 minute drive.

Vape shop #1: he's mostly a vape and head shop, but carries some cigars too. Clean shop. Has his own branded juices that some place in Texas makes for him. His fruit flavors are very good. He's not always the most knowledgeable since he's still learning the business, but he's eager. He's the closest shop to me.

Vape shop #2: more popular locally and has been around longer. They have a lab there and make your juice to order. My top two favorites come from them, but I don't much like their fruit flavors so far. Too weak. They are very knowledgeable, and have a separate lounge upstairs. They always seem busy. Nice guys.

Vape shop #3: family-owned (mother and son?)... they sell popular juices like Suicide Bunny and Five Palms. Pricier. Lounge and sales area are one in the same so it can get pretty hazy in their shop. Love the fact they carry "popular" juices for local trying. Not a big fan of the cloud chasers that sit at the "bar" fogging up the joint. LOL. They are super friendly and knowledgeable.


I like all three places... Guess I'm lucky to have 3 nice shops so close!


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[rondasherrill]

Actually local, the only thing in my area is this TINY building. Seriously, I'm poor, and I've seen bigger closets. The only thing they sell is eGo and Vamo knockoffs, stardust clearo knockoffs, and some kind of juice they must have gotten on special somewhere.

A little under 2 hours from me is Roar Vapor's B&M. That place is great. They've been in the game for several years, and they are good at what they do. Their lab is LITERALLY right there in the store(albeit in the back away from the public, and yea, it's clean). Everything is mixed that day, and more often than not right when you ask for it. They have a few clones, but they also sell a lot of authentic. They have high quality RDA/RTA's, and mods(they are a Provape reseller). The woman who works there, says if you give her 5 minutes, she can match you with the flavors you will love. It's all around just a positive experience to be there.

 

[Vaslovik]

Well we have vape shops all over town here, and I don't go to any of them anymore, largely because I don't need anything from them, but when I was going to them there was a huge vape opera going on between them about who from one shop was sleeping with who from the other, and who was sleeping with each other at each one. I saw shops go under over this comedy of lust, people get fired over it and all sorts of ready for prime-time drama going on.

Aside from that I stopped going to one because a guy there was really nasty to me when I went in there, because I could build an RBA well, and he couldn't build one at all, and out of his nastiness he would deliberately screw up my juice, which happened only once, and I never went back after that. (This is when I got into DIY) This guy assaulted two of his co-workers, one of them the store manager, and another was fired for calling the cops on him by the owner who was sleeping with him. Glad I don't work there.

Another store would only hire young hipsters with drug habits and a predilection for theft, and also hot young women the owner wanted to sleep with and didn't know the first thing about vaping, and it went under a few months ago because of "staffing issues".

Still another had such a palpable creepy feel to it when you stepped inside everyone remarked on it. You felt like "maybe I shouldn't be here..." The manager was a really creepy guy, and the staff displayed the attitude "I'm here to be paid for vaping, not to help you!"

Another I visited had several overweight women sitting up front on couches in a semi-circle watching TV and stuffing their faces with junk food. One of them reluctantly got up and went to the counter to help me. I saw cases with an ego rig here and a drip tip there, but empty for the most part. She explained that the crowds had just flooded in and bought out everything they had. Hehe... sure they did. She didn't know what a mech or an RBA was.

And then the last one I checked out had such a high pressure sales bit that if the person you were talking to couldn't sell you something in the first 30 seconds he had no more time for you and moved on quickly, ignoring you from then on.

So I really don't have much use for the B&M's anymore, and I'm so glad I learned to make good juice.

 

[geekmedic]

Thanks for the replies. I just do not understand the business model many places are doing. I understand the need to make a profit, but my gosh not on my sale alone are you going to pay the bills. Charge a fare price and make more sales. For me it is pushing me more and more to DIY. I have a very limited income and look to get the most out of what I got. I never knock anyone for not having the real deal, hell I don't have the real deal.

I don't drive a luxury car, but it's not an eco box either, I'm pleased with what I have, same goes for my vape gear. I'm happy to spend money where it is important batteries for example, but after going into these local shops I'm skeptical of the authenticity of what is on the shelf. 95% of my gear came form online less than 40% of that from FT. Just can't beat the convenience of having something dropped off at your door step. My job has me out and about the community but I cannot go into these places while working, I can search the forums and shop online anytime though, and I don't mind waiting.

I was in my states capital city down on a very popular shopping district and the local head shops were much better with gear and pricing. One place the guys were building coils and blowing clouds, a few stoners came in and got their one hitters and dugouts and these guys (employees) actually laughed. They went back to showing me different tanks, clearo's, and of course the ever popular Russian. They talked mecs and APV with me, I felt like I gained significant knowledge. I didn't buy anyyhing, but they told me to come back and spend more time with them, awesome. Looking forward to the GF wanting to go shopping again, I'll be over here if you need me. It will be well worth the two and half hour drive.

As for my local shops, good luck getting another cent out of me.

 

[Shellie]

Around here "Close" is within a 30-40 minute drive. There are three close to me within that timeframe. One is a specialty shop that sells only their own juices that they mix on site when you order it, and only sell either 650mah egos or mods. Nothing in between to speak of. The second one is a vape shop selling all kinds of gear and they do mod classes and whatnot, but I find them to be the type that people hang out there more than they buy stuff, and it's hard to get helped. The third just opened up this week, and it is high pressure sales, but all the people that work there are friendly, and they'll stop the pitch if you're getting tired of it. They also sell tobacco products, but their vape stuff outweighs the tobacco stuff. They're putting in a lounge, and their prices aren't too marked up. They sell two types of juice, but will be getting into making their own soon. They let you sample before you buy, and if I'm not ordering online, that's where I'll go from now on.

 

[zero7starz]

I have lots of stores near me. For the most part, they all carry the same equipment and all carry the same juice (with some surprising additions.)
One store I will not return to. Sad, because a buddy of mine works there, and I enjoyed getting to chat with him. Can not condone their practices. The big one for me, is that they carry fake AW IMR batteries, specifically 18650. They do not think they are fake, though. There is also the kayfun they sold me. The assistant manager insisted on building it for me, and the associate who he told to go clean the tank came and expressed concern about the tank. I did not hear or see what they were talking about. Come to find out it had a huge machining blemish on the side of the deck. If I had ordered this tank online, I would have asked to exchange it. I was just a tad flabbergasted that the assistant manager OK'd that sale, especially to someone he knew was a friend of the shop. I didn't say anything, but I will never go back.

 

[geekmedic]

There is also the kayfun they sold me. The assistant manager insisted on building it for me, and the associate who he told to go clean the tank came and expressed concern about the tank. I did not hear or see what they were talking about. Come to find out it had a huge machining blemish on the side of the deck. If I had ordered this tank online, I would have asked to exchange it. I was just a tad flabbergasted that the assistant manager OK'd that sale, especially to someone he knew was a friend of the shop. I didn't say anything, but I will never go back.

I just don;t understand this, why shops do this. My local hobby shop was always happy to do whatever he could to make it RIGHT! If he didn't have it he ordered it. He would order from the manufacture and sell at his price. Huge benefit for me, no shipping and he could get it overnight, and NO SHIPPING. If I got home and found an issue with anything, he would gladly return it for new. Obviously (I'm into RC flight) if the item had been flown that was another story. He would take the time to figure out where someone was with their skill level and always pointed them in the right direction. I had gotten to be a regular and often found myself stopping in to chit chat. The owner started pointing customers towards me when he was busy and help them out. We held two different flight nights, one was more of a school and learn to fly the other was for us experienced flyers. We would combat fly, 3D, and discuss new options to get the business going. Sorry, back on topic..... Why would anyone treat a friend of the shop this way?

 

[stillnotsmoking]

Anything local to me sells rebranded juice that is cheap, bit not very good. Mostly egos/clearos. Mods/rba are sparse at best, and generally not knowledgeable. Best shop I've been to is vaperite, but they are 1.5 hrs from me...but a great place all around

 

[DebiK]

I have 3 near me.

The first has extremely knowledgeable staff, great atmosphere and a nice variety of juices. It's just too highly priced for a poor girl like me. Also, they have a website and 3/4 things I have called to see if they sell in the store are only available online. I'm not paying shipping when they are so close.

The second one is a teeny tiny little shop in the mall. Very small selection and unfriendly staff.

The third, I have never been to. I emailed them asking if they carried a particular item. No response. Emailed again, still no response. That was that; I was done with them before I even started.

I do all of my shopping online.

 

[ClintS]

I have two very close to me, both are great. Between the two of them they have about anything most people would want from authentic, to clones, to off brands that are really pretty good. I would bet there are over 40 brands of e-juices with easily over 200 flavors between both stores. The best part is the stores complement each other and have relatively small percentage of the same items in stock.

Vape UP USA is well established (and sell via their web site as well) and recently moved into a larger storefront. Mr. Vapor is about a mile away from them and recently opened their doors but business is growing quickly. The good and bad for me, they both on my way home from work! So I'm a very lucky vaper.

 

[Aaron1100us]

One is just a kiosk at the mall. The other one only carries one brand of equipment, nothing I've heard of.