What would bring you into your local vape shop?

[ecigarette.co.uk]

A Vape Bar.

A few armchairs, a coffee machine, hire a dripper from the house if you don't have one of your own and try a variety of juices at 20p a squirt or whatever. This could be an excellent marketing tool for making people aware of new products without having to shell out for a whole bottle just to find out if they like it, and the shop gets a better idea of what will sell before they spend a fortune on stock.

Not a bad idea

 

[EchoZ]

A Vape Bar.

A few armchairs, a coffee machine, hire a dripper from the house if you don't have one of your own and try a variety of juices at 20p a squirt or whatever. This could be an excellent marketing tool for making people aware of new products without having to shell out for a whole bottle just to find out if they like it, and the shop gets a better idea of what will sell before they spend a fortune on stock.

This idea is brilliant. The juice testing is something that I personally would really be interested in, after buying a couple of liquids (dinner lady black orange and fantasi lemonade) and hated them I'm a little hesitant to shell out £12/£15 for a juice I won't like even though they smell nice.

Also find that in B&M stores, they are too proud to say they don't know about something. My girlfriend went into multiple shops looking for blackcurrant and ice (NOT menthol... We want Koolada). Every single shop told her they're the same, I went down the day after to a couple, they said the same to me, so I explained about Koolada and they then answered "I don't know then..." in a snotty way.

 

[jaydoginvasion]

Would be nice to have a Vape cafe/bar bistro kind of thing.

Most pubs near me don't mind vaping but still get a few complaints of other customers (normally smokers who have to go outside)

 

[geordie12]

Yes a cup of coffee while browsing would be nice but knowledgeable staff, quality gear and decent price are very important. I rarely go into a b & m but I do look in the windows and invariably they only have starter gear, which is good but some shineyitus gear with it might pull me in.

 

[crustyfolker]

This is a frank opinion that may not be liked but here goes. B&m's have massive overheads so they will mainly get business from New vapers.
Competing with online vendors is also hard for B&M's and competing with our favourite vendors from China is albeit impossible.
I am not going to just say what i think B&M's should do but what they shouldn't.

1. Vapers are not all young, and the bearded, snapback wearing cloud comp staff that a lot of B&M's employ is an instant turn off to most older vapers and in truth the older generation are more likely to remain as vapers being ex smokers. So may prefer a more mature employee to talk to. so a mix of young and older staff would work better in my opinion.
2. No Child friendly packaging and some of the recent mods ie Smok Mag Sigelei kaos, are again aimed at the young end of the market and will and do get vaping a bad name.
3. No Music in shops that cater for vapers to stay a while for a vape and a drink.
4. liquid try outs are a must as someone buying on a whim or staff recommendation may not like the juice after and a few buys that go wrong could mean that customer goes back to smoking
5. No mech sales until it is established the buyer knows what they are doing
6. reasonably priced DIY liquids will encourage footfall
7. tutorials for people who maybe new to something ie using a dripper or squonker
8. Cater for MTL vapers as they will be your future business customers as well as dtl vapers
8. Staff should be banned from forming cliques and give everyone the same quality service not just regulars or their mates
9. free drinks for people when the shop has space for people to sit down for a quiet half hour and vape, try there new gear.
10. give choice rather than trying to sell the latest gear or the least popular gear.

 

[icepie]

I think most of the above suggestions from @crustyfolker are eminently sensible, and in truth the smart retailers are already doing many of those things. As vaping becomes more and more mainstream, the outlets that want to stay in business will adapt to market forces. Clique operators are already folding. A year ago there were six vape shops within three miles of my house, now there are three and the ones that have closed had several things in common:

Elitist staff telling people more Watts = more "advanced".
Shops with their own micro-climate weather systems, i.e. cloudier than home made beer.
Selling mechs to people who didn't ask for them.
No customer loyalty schemes.
Poor advice to first timers.
Lack of product expertise and too many products confusing inexperienced buyers.
Unkempt and inappropriately dressed staff.

Interestingly, the shops that have closed were there first, but they lost out to incoming competition because they failed to adapt to the development of the industry, treating it as an esoteric sort of nerd club (even though they were nowhere near as knowledgeable as they tried to sound). They didn't recognize that it's not a niche market any more. The ones that survived are professional retailers who don't look down their noses at ignorant customers. They watch the forums, read the reviews, and in one case even ask regular customers to review new products in exchange for freebies.

What I'm saying is, yes we all know what a lot of B&Ms are doing wrong, but we really don't need to worry because as more and more people are kicking the weed in favour of vaping, shops have to cater to an increasingly broad customer base and the professionals will get better while the cowboys fall by the wayside.

 

[Nick0steam]

Agree gotta have better trained staff, just about every shop and person I have ever spoken to or been served by was completely clueless as to what I needed, I very rarely go to b and ms now thank god for the web and forums like this, I don't need to. I would like to see more shops stock wire, coil making tools cotton and flavours concentrates and mixing accessories but they probably don't wanna do that as they like to sell pre made overpriced rip off stuff, £4/£5 for 10ml of juice is a blatant piss take, imo.

Have a nice chuff

 

[Ben Marchington]

I love my B&M Store, i go every other day, nice coffee, donuts, staff are very friendly and knowledgeable genuinley a top shop. A few questionable things that they have such as the "Snackers" juice and the other malysian range, which I would love to see them take of the shelves because if Mr Food Imitation Act comes walking in I don't want to see the shitstorm hit.

But barring that, amazing store, i would love to see some more shops follow suit with comforting atmospheres, coffee / food / etc.

 

[tom-l]

i,d love to go into a b&m and be able to sit down with a drink, look at a menu a spend a few quid on testing juice. i'd also agree with after hours workshops like coil building and other tutorials .

 

[h1r3z]

A Vape Bar.

A few armchairs, a coffee machine, hire a dripper from the house if you don't have one of your own and try a variety of juices at 20p a squirt or whatever. This could be an excellent marketing tool for making people aware of new products without having to shell out for a whole bottle just to find out if they like it, and the shop gets a better idea of what will sell before they spend a fortune on stock.

I must be lucky as my local store does have a bar with stools, comfy sofa, coffee & snacks and a range of testers. The testers are pre-loaded tanks rather than offering a squirt of this & that, but it works well and best of all, they don't charge for a taste.