FEATURE
VAPE SHOP
SATURATION
IT’S NOT HERE YET BUT
IT’S CERTAINLY COMING
by Victor Mullin
A vaping story which appeared on a number of UK news
websites recently really caught my eye.
The news was that vaping is increasing to ever larger numbers
in the UK according to the latest figures by pollsters and this
led to the remark that high street vape shops were either at or
nearing saturation point.
Could this be true? I don’t think so, at least not right now, but I
can understand why people may think so.
For example, one vape shop here in Irvine closed recently and
we are now down to just two while there was another recent
shop closure in Glasgow, leaving the city with four.
I think there is a similar pattern being repeated in high street
vape shops in every town and city within the UK so it is easy to
see why people look at this and say the industry is saturated.
However it is not as simple as that. Look at any high street
and you will see a plethora of vape shops, all usually huddled
within the same high footfall places, all within walking distance
of each other and all of them, for the most part, selling exactly
the same items.
The interesting point is that while these closures are
undoubtedly going on, some shops, be they independent,
chain or franchise, have been reporting record sales and
footfall.
These healthy sales go all the way through from the end of
last year and even through the summer, a summer which is
turning out to be one of the hottest on record for the UK and
hot summers coupled with schools on holiday usually means
fewer sales due to people going on holiday.
It is true, there have been closures, but while the mainstream
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media looked no further than “Vape shops are closing!” other
people, myself included, have done a bit more digging as to
why these shops have closed. The shop which closed near
me only carried a limited range of stock and its prices were too
high. The thriving vape store across the road is doing very well
but it has four times the amount of stock and their prices are
up to 10 percent lower.
In the case of the shops which have closed in Glasgow, it
was after a visit by Trading Standards in which some of their
stock was confiscated but I have heard that they should be
re-opening soon.
There is a pattern here and uncompetitive prices, lack of choice
and enforcement v isits from Trading Standards are common
reasons for shop closures throughout the UK.
So are there “too many” vape shops? On the whole, no.
However there has been a tendency of vape shops to cluster
around high foot traffic high streets and malls to such an extent
that in some malls and high streets, competing vape shops
are practically next door to each other. When something like
that happens, the shoppers themselves decide which they
prefer. Unsurprisingly they will tend to choose the ones with
the friendliest staff, the most choice, and the best prices.
What has been seen up and down the country is what used to
be big name shops in local areas who used to rule the roost
when it came to vape shops, slowly being surrounded by newer
chain or franchise shops or even locally-based independent
shops. The old days of essentially “price gouging” (harsh term,
but hey, it’s true), the British public when it comes to vape gear
is now coming to a close.