E-cigarette and vaping supply shops have sprouted up like mushrooms in recent years but when it comes to branding, this youthful industry is still in a fog.
The electronic cigarette was invented in 2003 by a Chinese pharmacist and since then vaping, supplies shops and lounges catering to vapers have grown by leaps and bounds. As with any new type of business, however, vape shops have had to grapple with branding, advertising and generally making a good first impression on (in many cases) first-time customers. Take “Generation V”, an e-cigarette and vape bar in Lincoln, Nebraska. We have to assume Gen V has some deep-pocketed backers as the biz has hit the ground running with a good location, a spacious interior and signage that just oozes professionalism.
Flickr member Loren Rye (eL Bz) visited Generation V at its official grand opening on January 30th of 2016. Note the thick haze subsuming the interior – London’s infamous pea-soup fog’s got nuthin’ on a packed vape lounge hosting a creative cloud competition on a frosty winter’s night!
Make ‘Murica Vape Again
Stay classy, vape shops… and if you can’t be classy, be AWESOME! That appears to be the route taken by the above garish-as-can-be “Drive-Thru Vape & Smoke Outlet” shop in New Church, Virginia. One wonders whether the convenient drive-thru format allows customers to browse the shop’s boasted “biggest selection” of vaping supplies but hey – check out that patriotic banner out front. Kudos to Flickr member Judy Gallagher (judygva) for capturing the shop in all its glory – or Old Glory – on January 17th of 2016.
E Din’t Do Dat, Diddy?
Leave it to the Brits (home of The Daily Mail) to push the envelope when it comes to punny shop names… and “Puff Dad E” is about as punny as it gets. Flickr member Matt Brown (Matt From London) just couldn’t resist snapping two store locations: in Waltham Abbey on March 14th of 2016 and in Osidge, London on May 18th of 2017. Time will tell if Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs can resist siccing his lawyers on the shop owners, whose website was still up and running at press time.
Come Up To The Lab
According to photographer ans Flickr member Ewan Munro (Ewan-M), the former Duke of Wellington pub in Shoreditch, London is now “The Vape Lab” e-cigarette and coffee shop. Munro visited The Vape Lab on March 29th of 2014 and the shop’s clean storefront, signage and spiffied-up exterior alludes to ongoing gentrification and social shifts in Shoreditch, an historic district in London’s East End.
