VAPOLOCITY started in my garage in El Paso, Texas. My brother-in-law came to visit for Easter of 2013 and had a generic Ego battery with a generic Kanger T2 atomizer. This was the first time I had ever heard of electronic cigarettes much less seen one. (Other than Njoy and Mistic, but to me those don’t count) I was instantly intrigued and several coughs later decided that this was going to be a revolution. We knew that electronic cigarettes could change peoples’ lives. After using only for a few hours we started to feel better. I never thought I would see my father-in-law quit smoking so easily. This man has smoked religiously for over 40+ years. After 2 days of vaping he has not picked up a cigarette since. My brother-in-law sent us 10 kits and a few bottles of e juice when he got home. We literally started this business with 10 generic ego kits and 10 bottles of China e juice. We managed to find much better suppliers after we ended up paying $400 for those 10 kits and only made $100. But the fact that people were kicking our garage door in to get those kits was all we needed to know in order to actively pursue this new-found dream of ours to help people vape.
I started making e juice right away. In my garage. At first, I didn't know any better. I saw other people making juice and we needed it to offer to our new customers who were loving their kits so we started learning how to mix. After we started learning more and more, we figured out that we needed a physical brick and mortar store in order to do all this the right way. We couldn't have people lined up outside my house day after day. Nor could we continue to mix e juice in an unsanitary environment. We needed a lab. If we really wanted to help people we were going to need a real store with a real lab.
We managed to find a few private investors who shared our dream and we signed the lease for our first B&M in June 2013. (Luckily because of the condition of the location we were given 3 months free rent) After a month and a half, we completed the renovations of the place. It took so long because we did the renovations by ourselves with limited funding. It looked amazing nevertheless. We opened on July 15th, 2013 and immediately had customers walking through our door even though the cards were stacked against us. We found out before we opened in early July that the biggest vape shop in town who had been in business for over 2 years was opening their second location right across the street from us. In an interesting twist of fate, their store and our store opened on the same day. We thought that was going to be the end of us before we even got started. BUT, our attitude was different than most would have been. We didn’t tuck our tail and run away scared. We ignored them. We did our own thing and learned how to be better vape shop owners on our own. We knew we wanted to offer the most flavors in town and we did. To date, we have over 500+ e juice flavors that we make ourselves. We wanted to be able to offer nicotine strengths in increments of 1 mg/ml so people could slowly wean themselves off of nicotine instead of having to make big jumps. And we do. We offer 0-36mg/ml in 1mg/ml increments. Not everyone likes just one flavor. Many people like flavors mixed together. At VAPOLOCITY, we give them that option. De-Ja Juice (which is our trademarked e-juice line) can be made to the customer’s specific taste palette. We work with them in our store trying multiple flavors until they find the right combination for us to blend together for them. We allow customers to mix up to 4 flavors in one bottle.
We did our own product research and managed to figure out who NOT to order from. There are many companies who make low quality products that can actually do more harm than good. Some of these lessons were learned the hard way and we still have a few boxes of old outdated hardware sitting around. We taught ourselves how to build coils and properly maintain mech mods, RDAs, and RBAs. We learned on our own that the “beauty ring” they give you with a Kanger Protank 2 is actually an airflow control ring and also helps stabilize the tank so you don’t strip out the threads on your battery. We learned how to do everything that a vape shop SHOULD be capable of doing. Our philosophy is that we cannot give advice about something that we ourselves are not experts on. And since there are no vaping schools or even classes at a college, we had to learn everything ourselves from the ground up. We seek advice from those who have also had the same experiences and we share our experiences online as well. We participate in the Vaping Underground forum as well as other platforms to help spread knowledge.
Our goal from day one has been to set the standard for what a vape shop should be. Our second B&M location is much bigger than our first and allows us the opportunity to offer more and better services to our customers. We recently started patinaing and inking mods for customers. Not many shops offer this service. At VAPOLOCITY 2.0, customers can check out the tools they need to build their RDA while they are on the go. People much prefer being able to use a coil jig instead of having to use random drill bits from their garage. We let people oxidize using our torch instead of them having to buy one. We have a drill press at both stores that we use to modify different devices in various ways. We encourage people to come in and use our tools so that we can help them if need be. So that we can answer questions they may not even know they have yet. People appreciate knowing that if they do have any questions or need a special tool that there is someone there to help them. We also sell the tools if someone wants to buy them. When a customer buys an RDA or RBA, they get their first build for free (We charge $10+ for re-builds). Part of the reason we do that is so that we can educate them on that particular atomizer and so that we know that they understand. We preach battery safety as much as possible to the point that if we don't think the person is going to be safe we will talk them out of buying whatever it is they think they want. The fact that we care about our customers is why people choose us. Every member of the VAPOLOCITY team truly cares about the people they help and we never hesitate to give out information.
As of today, we have two B&Ms and our own line of e juice called De-Ja Juice. We currently have "VAPOLOCITY" and "De-Ja Juice" officially trademarked with the USPTO. We also have an online storefront for customer to order from out of town. We sponsor many of the local events here in El Paso and contribute back to the community by supporting local groups and causes. We understand that without supporting the community, we would not have their support. Hopefully in the near future we can expand even further and open a 3rdB&M here in El Paso. We also have other plans in the works.
Our mission from day one has been to help people. The revolution my brother-in-law introduced us to is huge. People need to know that there is a healthier alternative to cigarettes. We are here to help them learn as much about them as possible and to help them on their journey. We never mind explaining what VG and PG are, or teaching a customer how to make their EVOD coil last a little bit longer next time. Without having someone there to guide them on the path to vaping, it can be a very difficult struggle. Knowing there is someone to turn to who will be more than happy to help you figure it out is the peace of mind people need to really get the most out of vaping.
I, personally, truly feel that I help people every day. I am thanked every day by people who tell me I am helping them. I am watching peoples' lives change as a result of us opening their eyes to this new way of living. So many people tell me how vaping makes them feel better and that this was one of the best decisions they ever made. They come in and tell us about their latest doctor visits and how their lungs have cleared up so much. Many soldiers who are our customers have improved their PT scores all around since they stopped smoking and started vaping instead. I love it! And I know that my family/team feels the same way. It feels amazing to know that there are so many people out there who are that much happier as a result of us and what we do.
Had only vaping been around sooner the life of my wife’s grandmother may have been spared. We lost her to lung cancer from smoking recently. Losing her was one of the hardest things my wife and I ever had to go through. We watched her struggle day after day. Much of our drive and determination to help people comes from her. Thinking about her suffering motivates us to drive VAPOLOCITY forward harder so that others may not have to share the same fate. We don’t ever want anyone to have to go through what she went through.
There is much more to our story. We have come a long way over the past few years and we have a long way to go. We pride ourselves in our customer service and the fact that we are actually helping people. We have a solid team that is growing stronger every day. We hope that you become a part of us also and give us your support.
