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I had the best intentions of keeping this record up to date with how things were going, but between a back injury and the whirlwind of getting the store opened, I fell behind. So here’s the interesting things to know:

1. The store is not only LIVE, but it’s kickin’! Everyone who walks in has loved it. That’s a huge relief to us, because it’s never a sure thing doing something differently. All those great reviews that have poured in and the long conversations with our visitors have reassured us we did the right thing.
2. We have a great selection of hardware and juice on hand, and everyone is invited to tell us things they’d like us to carry. We have a big clipboard full of requests already and have brought a lot of it in.
3. We carried the Fog It Up Friday tradition over from our other stores and it has been a BLAST! We even found a hot dog roller to give everyone a (free) snack while they hang out and socialize. That’s Friday evenings from whenever to close at midnight. (We’re also open until midnight on Saturdays.)
4. Things are ramping up quickly. Compared to our first store, we’re seeing new customers discover us about 5 times faster with more every day.
5. We are grateful to everyone who has helped spread the word!! It is very humbling to try to do a good thing and have it so well received.
6. The “up north” partners like this area so much, they plan to go back, pack up their stuff, and return for good.

There is a TON of other stuff we could tell, but it would be so much better if you just come see for yourself. 🙂

Vape Love,
Steve

… sometimes just work out! We’ve all been busy with our individual parts of getting things done. We’ve weaved our way through state and local permit requirements, got our point of sale system almost ready to go, got our credit card processing accounts, and spent a wheelbarrow full of money on the tiny pieces and parts it takes to run a business. The displays have been delivered. The sign might even be up in time for the grand opening. Amazingly, things are on track.

With humility, I have to say, I am astounded by the ability of this team to work together to smash a to-do list. My entire 30 year career has been spent working on collaborative projects with professionals in many fields. The most efficient and easy to work with team in all those years has turned out to be the four of us putting this store together. We’ve been in the thick of it, so the northern team and the southern team haven’t spent as much time together as we would like, but everything just keeps moving ahead. It’s a great thing to be part of.

We can’t wait for you all to see what we’ve done!

Wow. What a weekend! We wanted to be absolutely sure we were not opening a new shop to try to do the same thing other shops were already doing, so we spent the weekend visiting vape shops. There are good shops out there and we hope none of them think we’re here to take their loyal customers. But we did get the assurance we needed to know there was no shop that was the perfect shop for us. We think there are people out there just waiting for the same thing we want to come along, so we are moving ahead.

This morning we signed our lease. This afternoon, we wired our deposit and rent to our new landlord (who we really like). Now, with keys in hand, it’s time to build a vape shop! There’s nothing like the feeling of unlocking the door for the very first time, stepping inside, taking a deep breath, and letting it sink in: This is MINE now. There is so much potential in this little building, so many people we will meet, new friends to discover, and hopefully, great memories to be made serving our community with the stuff we all believed improved our own lives. That’s the experience we had at our old shop and we can’t wait to get that going again here in our new shop.

Stay tuned for a wild ride!