Thinking of opening Brick/Mortar E-cig/Vapor shop

G

gattaca

New member
Jan 8, 2011
305
3
0
I have become really unmotivated as of late. I dont know if its because im going into my thirties. But, after i sit for a long period of time and i try to get up and walk the heel of my foot starts hurting. I start spacing out. Actually have a beer belly now and i dont even drink beer. I get aches and pains in weird places that i never had before. So of course i google it and im 90 percent sure its some dreaded desease or thats what i google tells me. So been thinking about making some changes. Getting out of the house, trying to find something im passionate about. Im just ranting a bit here, obvously pain in my foot or some body ache isnt the reason im so unmotivated and uninspired but i feel like im just rotting away.

I know some of you guys are making a killing off vapors and its kind of something not many people talk about because its becoming kind of satrated and people have to compete and good suppliers are hard to come by etc..

But im thinking of actually starting a vapor lounge by my house off of a busy street. next to a 7-11 a seedy massage parlor and a bar. Rents not terribly expensive and i have about 40k put away for stupid shit like this that i could lose without going homeless.

But before i did anything stupid i wanted to get fellow wickedfire approvals first. I love this forum because past all the bullshit it seems like there are real people here who want to make money and new ideas are welcome.

anyway just wanted to see if anyone has done this (not a website but a real store location) and the logistics and if its worth investing some money into. i appreciate any advice.
 


Maybe an all out tobacco shop (provides ciggarrettes, pipes, tobbacco, any kind of smoking related items, etc. etc.) would be worth it.. but JUST an e-cig brick and mortar/smoking lounge doesn't sound like a great idea.. But in reality, I haven't done any research.. It just seems like if you want to have a full store you're gonna need to become a smoke shop that has a LOT of different types of inventory.

theres a bunch around my area and they all build a loyal repeat customer base and seem to stay around for a long time.. so it seems like a stable business/profitable. However, you better REALLY analyze competition in your area because as I said, the customers are LOYAL to individual shops and they are the ones that account for most of their business.

Good luck.. Also, I don't believe 40k would be enough for starting a full smoke shop. I would say 3x that much.
 
Kiopa_Matt said:
Be unique. Start a hookah shop.
Click to expand...

4814014643_b2e1da67c5_z.jpg
 
gattaca said:
I have become really unmotivated as of late. I dont know if its because im going into my thirties. But, after i sit for a long period of time and i try to get up and walk the heel of my foot starts hurting. I start spacing out. Actually have a beer belly now and i dont even drink beer. I get aches and pains in weird places that i never had before. So of course i google it and im 90 percent sure its some dreaded desease or thats what i google tells me. So been thinking about making some changes. Getting out of the house, trying to find something im passionate about. Im just ranting a bit here, obvously pain in my foot or some body ache isnt the reason im so unmotivated and uninspired but i feel like im just rotting away.

I know some of you guys are making a killing off vapors and its kind of something not many people talk about because its becoming kind of satrated and people have to compete and good suppliers are hard to come by etc..

But im thinking of actually starting a vapor lounge by my house off of a busy street. next to a 7-11 a seedy massage parlor and a bar. Rents not terribly expensive and i have about 40k put away for stupid shit like this that i could lose without going homeless.

But before i did anything stupid i wanted to get fellow wickedfire approvals first. I love this forum because past all the bullshit it seems like there are real people here who want to make money and new ideas are welcome.

anyway just wanted to see if anyone has done this (not a website but a real store location) and the logistics and if its worth investing some money into. i appreciate any advice.
Click to expand...

I would start off by writing a business plan and seeing if it makes sense on paper. There are so many considerations to think about here I don't even know where to begin.

Rent + Inventory + Furniture + Remodeling + Staff + Insurance + Municipality/State/Fed are all factors you are going to need to take into consideration.
 
In-depth market research first for sure.

And no way will a pure vape shop work, IMO- every fucking gas station & corner store sells that shit now. You're gonna have to diversify your offerings and inventory tremendously, and that will take FAR more than $40k.

What's idea "B"?
 
Your best bet is to do it online. You will have better luck... There is a lot of weak competition in the e-cig market right now as a lot of them are fly by night operations and the rest are really crappy at marketing.
 
ecig shops are popping up all over by me, one has been open for over a year.
 
edit, ^ beat me to it.

I've seen 4 or 5 e-cig only stores popping up all over Orlando. I can't speak to profits of course, but I can say that there is one near me that has been in business 6 months or so and when I drive by seems to have customers. I joked about it when I saw it open up, but it might work. E-cig vaporizers and supplies vary in quality, so I could see why someone would do repeat business with a shop over getting the cheap vaporizers from 7-Eleven.
 
on a side note, what about a kiosk in a mall? That could probably work pretty well.

Or hit up your small local gas stations and see if you work with them and buy some space near the counters or put up a small sign near the cash register mentioning the e-cigs you sell. (my local gas station does this and they told me they sell very well).
 
Yeah same here I see a lot popping up but never see anybody in them lol? Don't see a lot of people using them in public either, seems real cigs are still winning for now.
 
He's not talking about a shop bros, he's talking about a hangout spot. A spot where people sit down, chat and smoke ecigs. Like a hookah bar, but for ecigs.

I'm not sure if that fits the culture/interest of people smoking ecigs though.
 
i am opening the same such shop, ping me and lets talk without all these haters, cause i think i've actually done my homework
 
Hey everyone. just wanted to say thanks for responding.. couple of thoughts on what iv learned so for.

and anyone else who is doing this. since were brick and mortar were not in competition with each other so if you want to compare notes and such just pm me.

but anyway.. heres what iv learned so far..

If you make it more of a LOUNGE it keep it open late it seems to do well from what iv seen around me. Customer service seems to be the key as with smoke shops u have a loyal following.

getting supplies is hard because theres bunch of knock offs and people who get supplies dont want to share the info.

startup cost DOESNT seem to bad.. someone i know bought about 20k of supplies dealt with some headaches with customs but overall had about 20k of supplies.. spent another 20k on a retial spot fixed up with some nice couches and tv and shit.. serves drinks.. and hes hanging in there and is hiring staff..

it has the potential to work pretty well i think my problem is if i should risk 40k for a business ill have to work 7 days a week at or stay in my house and just create another website or i should say more websites and make money for 1/10 of the price.

just cause im bored.. i dont want to fuck up my life.. but life is about taking risks.. so thats all i got so far.
 
E-Cigs are hot right now. They'll continue to be hot for a while.

But a lounge? I don't know, man. That might just be a trend right now. I've spent a lot of time hanging around hookah bars, and from what I notice, they're a lot like clubs.

One month they're hot - the next, not so much.

Maybe combining a hookah bar with an e-cig lounge would be a better bet. Or a tobacco shop with an assortment of products, as well as a lounge area for vaporizers/e-cigs.

Most of my friends are stoners, and they often become loyal returning customers to tobacco shops with a great and UNIQUE selection of bongs, bubblers, pipes, vaporizers (esp. pens), etc...

I feel there's a lot of room for creativity in the tobacco/e-cig/smoking device market. Would be fun to brainstorm something unique.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom