Vape products are easy to find. The United States has close to 11,000 vape shops and lounges, the count keeps growing, and gas stations and mini marts stock vape gear too. That leaves an adult vaper with a simple choice: drive to a counter or order from a screen. Below we weigh the two on four points: how easy each is to reach, what each costs you, how much each one stocks, and how each handles your payment details.
Finding a shop in the first place
Most vapers have typed “vape shop near me” into a phone at some point, and our article on that search has useful advice. Google, Bing, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter will all turn up local stores. None of that is required, though, because the same supplies can be browsed from the couch.
Getting there
Where the local shop falls short
New vape shops tend to open in cities more than in suburbs or rural towns. If you live outside a larger city, the trip costs time and distance. Some people have no car, no Uber or Lyft coverage and no bus or train nearby, yet almost everyone carries a smartphone. Web retailers are also multiplying faster than physical stores, and they take orders at any hour instead of keeping set opening times. You shop on your schedule, not the store’s.
Where the local shop wins
A counter gives you something a website cannot: the product in your hand, today, with no wait for delivery. You can judge the size and shape of a vape pen or electronic cigarette before you commit, and you can smell an ejuice first. That matters when a bottle you dislike cannot be returned.
What it costs
Online
Both kinds of seller compete on sales and promotions. A first visit to a web store usually brings a pop-up asking for your email in exchange for a percentage off, or a code to type in at checkout. Handing over the address means marketing mail, much of which lands in the junk folder, but those messages are often announcing a sale, so glance at them before deleting. The other advantage is comparison: you can check one site against another in minutes and order from whichever is lowest, with no driving between stores and no fuel spent.
In store
Shops with several locations or a strong social media presence draw bigger crowds. At the register a clerk may ask for an email or mobile number so the store can send offers by mail or text; you are free to decline. Stores with no web outlet lean on these offers to bring people through the door. You never pay shipping at a counter. The risk is the impulse purchase: the small accessory or the bag of candy sitting by the checkout line that you had no plan to buy. Ordering online keeps you away from that shelf.
What is in stock
A physical shop can only sell what fits inside its walls, and only while it is open. A web store has neither limit, so a silver vape pen can be ordered at 3am if you like. Anything you have seen on a store shelf can be found online, along with plenty that the shelf never carried.
Paying
Data breaches in past years, Target’s among them, made shoppers wary of using credit and debit cards, and that breach led to chips being added to debit cards. Both store types have since taken steps against identity theft: chip readers and PINs at the counter, third-party authentication for web orders. Anyone still uneasy about cards can pay cash in a shop. Online, cash is not an option.
The short version
- Local shop: handle and smell products first, take them home the same day, no shipping charge, cash accepted; limited by location, opening hours and shelf space.
- Online: open around the clock, wider selection, quick comparison between sellers; you wait for delivery and cannot try before buying.
Each side has its drawbacks, but the web store is always available, and your phone is nearer than any storefront.