Agree 
% was up visiting my son in Winchester, TN we went to Murfreesboro and spotted the shop there and it was really a awesome shop & the young lady that worked there back in May had some of the best customer service skills and product knowledge I’ve seen in forever.
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That’s crazy I lived in Hoptown/Clarksville,TN. Back in 1992 lived on Base.
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Small world , I live in Cadiz , Ky but I work in Erin , Tn. I take the scenic route through Bumpus Mills and Dover TN.
We may have run into each other at Texas East , spent a few hours on Riverside drive. 
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That’s where I knew you from Riverside Dr. But that was in Cali. Around 96 lmao
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Okay, here goes!
In my town new ulm mn there is a shop, we started our journey there. The guy was friendly and helpful. But the product was outdated and we had a lot of devices malfunction. The juice selection was his own creations about 30 or so. Had a burn to them and he sold up to 28mg nic.
Now we travel to our bigger town of mankato. One shop ecig crib is fabulous. The gear is mostly smok (to be expected) the staff is super knowledgeable and the juice is great (overpriced but good…havent bought any since DIY haha) we still go there for coils.
Another shop in the same town is worthless as far as knowledge. They mostly sell tobacco and weed pipes (they have lots to say about that stuff ;)) but i did a test and walked in and asked for a mod with a yihi chip and they thought i was batty. The vape gear is overpriced but the juice selection is nice.
Vaping is really taking off in Minnesota its cool to watch it progress!
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I suppose from what you say they’re fairly small shops too?
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There are 4 shops in my little town of 9600 people, one is a tiny shop that sells mostly 3s and 4s LiPo boxes and they are super “cloud bro” types, good dudes but not my scene. Another is a shop run by a dude and his wife, they are young and only knowledgeable about the products they use, they give off the vibe that they run a shop just to get better deals on the factory coils they use lol nice people but clueless about anything not smok related. Next we have Hoosier vapors, a chain of stores to be avoided at all costs, last time I went in there they only had efest batteries, I explained to the owner that they are grossly over-rated batteries that can be dangerous to clueless people, he scoffed at me and said “we have never had a complaint about them”, and one of the employees told me that using ss wire in power mode is dangerous…really?!? Wow…then there is vapors nirvana, I am partial to this place because the owner is an old man that is just really honest with people, I buy something from there once a month or so just to throw some money his way, and we usually talk fishing for a half hour when I’m there lol. Vapors nirvana also is the only place I have seen in town that doesn’t try to sell smokers on things, like other shops where they sell someone who wants to quit smoking a cloud beast tank and watch them gag their lungs out.
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Went into my local vape shopthet sells juice they make other day…
Looks like they prepping to shut down in my opinion… very limited stock to choose from a couple smoke mods to choose from 3 to be exact a cheap squonker. Tank choice are limited to the tfv8 and tfv12… when asking for coils it’s awakys none or our wholesellers carry them when asking for coils fit the tfv4 and 8…
Personally I think they are preparing to shut down… and just keeping the doors open as long as possible.
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The shops around here fall into two categories. All juice or all Smok. They both cater to the cloud bro scene and don’t offer much in the way of education.
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I live in Southern California and I think there are 8 dedicated vape shops in my city. Thats not counting the tobacco and head shops that also sell some vape stuff. There are so many additional vape shops in the surrounding cities its crazy. It does force some fierce competition and for some shops to find their niche and target crowd.
There are five vape stores all about a half mile from my home. The closest has a very small collection of hardware, but sells commercial juice for about half the price of anywhere else. It used to be a large online store but that part of the business moved to Las Vegas and left this smaller retail version behind. The guys are cool and I spend time talking to them and have taught them to coil and wick their rebuldables. They give me free build mats, hats and tshirts and all the other promotional stuff when they get it.
Another store only sells their store brand juice which is thin and harsh and crap, but they have enough business to stay open. They have a fair amount of hardware but everything seems to be full retail price. The last time I went there, they had their kids in the lounge area while the whole shop was filled with vape clouds. That was just wrong to me and I never bothered to go back.
One shop that I go to sometimes is great for customer service. I don’t buy hardware from them because the cost is outrageous, but they stand behind everything they sell. I have seen them replace defective mods with no question or hassle. They have a huge U shaped bar with stools and specialize in store brand juice. They have samples of all the single flavors and customers can mix and match the flavors and create their own juices and name them. They have been very helpful and shared their knowledge of mixing.
The next shop is one of the brick and mortar locations of a huge online retailer. They have all the big brand name juices but are kind of expensive for that. I get a lot of hardware from them. Employees are awesome, helpful and knowledgeable. I think because of their buying power, they get hardware sometimes weeks before other stores. I know because of their size, they usually bypass the distributors and wholesalers and buy direct from the manufacturers. I check there regularly because when they get rid of their overstock or clear out a line, I can get stuff super cheap. When they get rid of juice lines, they sell all size bottles for one dollar each.
The rest of the stores are pretty mediocre. They have generally ok selections of juice, some at ok prices but mostly on the expensive side. Poor inventory of hardware at poor prices. Employees with attitudes or lacking in people skills. Some that you walk into it immediately feels like a private club or clique. Like all the conversation stops and everyone stares. I don’t care, I always walk in and go about my business. Some you go in and the employee behind the counter just stares into space and doesn’t acknowledge you. I swear some of the shops are fronts for money laundering because they don’t get any business.
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Are you in Mooresville by chance?
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Yes they are!! There is bigger shops a couple hours away but ive never seen a 1/4 mile long of hardware!
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I have never ever set my foot in a vape store 
The fact that I live in a small village and the nearest vape shop is about 30km away, probably has a lot to do with that, and that one didn’t even open until recently. When I started vaping I had to drive something like 60km to get to the nearest, so I have always ordered everything online, and never felt any need to change that.
Most of the b&m stores also sell online, and all of the online stores I know of, also have at least one b&m store. Living in Denmark btw.
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One of the things why I like going into a store, is because of the service. If people can explain you things like a pro, let you try juices and give you an up-close of the real hardware, that’s something you can never get from an online store.
A juice may get great reviews but once you vape it, it may be something that’s really not your thing. So even if you can try a single drip… it can save you money and frustration.
These are things though that seem to be missing in a lot of shops. They don’t really offer much more than just checking out stuff online. So it kind of confuses me that all these “unworthy” shops stay in business.
I have to admit that the local laws usually don’t help the shops with all the restrictions. For us, it’s even illegal for a vape shop to promote e-cigs as smoking cessation products (even though everybody knows very well what they are and why they are there). But just like with any laws, there are usually loopholes and I don’t see many vape shops make use of those :-/
My feeling is that a lot of vapers feel part of a community, they’re (mostly) all quitting smoking using a good and enjoyable way to do so and they all have in common that a lot of the rest of the (regulating) world frowns upon it.
It’s nice to get together and chat or exchange experiences in real life, like we do here in the forums. I’ve seen quite a few YT vids from some big vape shops with seating/vaping areas and you can just feel the atmosphere… but it seems in real life, those shops are really hard to find. Sad really and I think a missed opportunity.
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Only real one by me is full of arrogant muppets.
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Yessir I am
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New Castle here. Usually stop at Squealers on the way to Bloomington. Have 2 kids/grandkids at I.U.
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Awesome! Squealers isn’t too bad, if your in town on the weekend try stopping by zydeco’s, best food in town lol real Cajun food cooked by a Louisiana native. Guy fieri even showed up there once lol
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Oh crap! I forgot about Zydecos. I saw it on triple D a while back. Squealers once was really good…something has changed.
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Where I am there isn’t many options. There is a monster chain of stores called Wild Bills, they have a good variety of value gear. Their e liquid is expensive. One of the things that I find most annoying is the atmosphere in the shop. It just seems like cloud bros. The staff is always just hanging out with the friends/customers. It’s kinda confusing actually. There is another independent shop where the associates were just talking to each other and rewicking their coils and chit chatting. They were friendly, but the store was not busy at all because their hardware is high end and expensive.
The BEST experience and favorite vape shop is actually DIY Vapor Supply. I visit their brick and mortar store about once a month because it’s a one hour drive. I’m located in the Flint, MI area and they are in Pontiac. I go in and talk about flavor consentrates, and profiles. I always end up buying one or two bottles of their house juice cause I like to support local. I buy concentrates there too. They don’t seem to be put out by DIY vapors and seem to embrace the community. The staff is knowledgeable and kind. Their concentrates are a bit more pricey than online, but every once in a while it feels good to actually visit a shop and have my products right away.
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