New vape store for Timaru
A hazy cloud may be hanging around a store on Sophia St, but it’s nothing to get too concerned about.
The store, Vapourium, provides a service to those wanting to quit cigarettes and eventually quit smoking all together, Vapourium operations manager Joseph Rennie says.
On Wednesday the chain store opened its doors to the Timaru public.
‘‘One of the reasons we opened in Timaru is that we have a big customer base, it’s about having a local shop that services people who want to vape and people who want to give up smoking.
‘‘It’s not all about blowing big clouds, for a lot of people it is a small device that helps people quit smoking.’’ Rennie said all of the Vapourium staff were from the South Island and there was no plans to open any shops in the North Island.
‘‘We are all South Islanders, my mum’s from Timaru and I am from Nelson.’’ There are two stores in Dunedin and one in Christchurch. The chain had wanted to open a shop in Timaru for the last six months but had struggled to find shop spaces for lease, Rennie said.
‘‘We like this location because it is a bit more private.
‘‘Some people can be really selfconscious of vaping, we don’t want to be talking about how to vape in a fishbowl store, here it’s a wee bit secluded and people can have that privacy.’’
A lot of the customers that came in on the opening day were existing customers that had been purchasing e-liquids through the online store who were looking to upgrade their kits to something more powerful, he said. Rennie said he was surprised at the age of the customers coming in to the Timaru store. ‘‘The demographics were surprising, I was expecting a younger skew.
‘‘People have a perception vaping is for younger people. The average buyer here would be 35 to 40 and a lot of customers are 50 to 60.’’
Rennie said the store was direct with customers that vaping was not harmless.
‘‘We don’t say vaping has no harm. Vaping is a smoking cessation tool.’’
South Canterbury medical officer of health Dr Daniel Williams said quitting smoking was the most important thing that smokers can do for their health and added there was some evidence that e-cigarettes can help smokers to quit. ‘‘Although they’re not completely harmless, e-cigarettes are much less harmful than smoking tobacco, and there’s no evidence that they harm bystanders.’’
At the moment is was illegal to sell e-cigarettes or e-liquid that contains nicotine, he said.
‘‘The Ministry of Health is developing regulations that are expected to make their sale legal to people over 18 from mid 2018.’’
Rennie said while the store did not sell e-liquid with nicotine it could sign up customers to the E-Liquid NZ Buyers Club which allowed them to purchase e-liquid with up to 18mg of nicotine on the customers behalf. ‘‘We don’t push it on the customers.’’
The Ministry of Health stated in October it believed e-cigarettes had the potential to make a contribution to the Smokefree goal.