What is the issue with 'vape shops'?

[SnufkinsSpiritAnimal]

I see it mentioned in threads about declining towns, and whilst I understand that chicken shops, betting shops and such tend to pop up more regularly in downmarket areas, why is a vape shop a signifier of this?

Surely people from all areas and backgrounds might wish to give up smoking cigarettes and use vaping as a way to bridge the gap? Why would it be associated with a 'bad area'?

I must say that currently I live in a town that has sped downhill faster than a bat out of hell, especially since the pandemic, and there's no improvement in sight (rising crime, knives, dereliction and drugs).
But we only have one vape shop, to my knowledge here.

I think some are a guise for money laundry businesses

The people I know who vape don’t do it to give up smoking, it’s just another addiction they have.

Owned by wrong uns, frequented by wrong uns. Next!

I see, that would make sense, perhaps they are also associated with having a heavy male presence and such, which depending on the vibe might be offputting.

As a data point my DH used vaping to move from cigarettes and it worked for him. He hasn't used anything cigarett-y since 2013.

So it's a stereotype then?

Many pre teens and teens vape. Why should we be encouraging this?

They tend to be short lease pop ups being used for money laundering.

who are 'we' and how are 'we' encouraging anything?

I don't fucking smoke.

Money laundering fronts. They are often half vape,half phone repair shops.

Ah, there are a few of those phone shops here. And the nail bar, eyelash things.
If this is common knowledge, do councils not monitor them?

Only a very small % of them actually sell anything vape-related. They're just fronts.

Many yrs ago I was aware of one in Kendal, Cumbria, as we knew the mother. It was family run and small, but quite legit.
How to tell the dodgy ones?

I do wonder if councils care though, as some of the phone shops here are always empty and must be paying high rents.

Certain demographics have a higher percentage of smokers than others, so smoking rates are higher amongst the unemployed than those employed and higher among people who work in manual labour type jobs than managerial positions. There is a much higher number of smokers amongst people with no qualifications compared to those who have a degree or higher. A high number of vape shops might suggest that the local population are more likely to be uneducated and unemployed or experiencing a low income than an area with fewer vape shops so amongst people who feel being unemployed or having no qualifications are undesirable it’s likely they will see vape shops as undesirable too.

(Source: www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandlifeexpectancies/bulletins/adultsmokinghabitsingreatbritain/2022#:~:text=Across%20the%20UK%2C%2014.6%25%20of,with%20any%20other%20age%20group.)

They are often fronts.
They bring nothing to a town. It’s just a shop filled with a grotty cheap product that adds nothing. What would you rather spend time in, a book shop or a vape shop? Vapes just seem to create litter, smell and make people look like babies sucking a dummy.

They are often fronts for money laundering. People who vape have often just replaced one addiction for another. Vaping is not associated with leafy middle class areas but with deprived council estates and the teenagers that live on them. I know, I live on one.

Yes, often cash only , shady as fook. Our local vape shop has now leased a shop a few doors away selling ice creams. All just a front for drug running.

Candy shops in London are another...

'Westminster City Council launched a fightback. Council leaders said the candy shops on Oxford Street alone owed up to £8 million in unpaid business rates. When a shop became vacant, the candy stores would move in on cheap rents and a promise to pay the outstanding rates bills attached to the properties.8 May 2024'

Jeez, the MN pouty disapproval is strong on this thread.

Are shops that sell fags terrible? Like every newsagent, supermarket and petrol station in the country? Why is selling vapes so much worse?

Naive approach. Nowhere sells just fags.

We're talking a new breed of one purpose shops here. Vapes, Phone Repair, American Candy, Ice Creams. All fronts for crime that nobody seems arsed to investigate.

Well there's truth in the demographic to some extent, definitely. I recall reading that Liverpool had high rates of lung cancer due to lifestyle/income related issues on the whole. No idea if that's changed now though.

There was one near me, it never actually opened though. Had been a beauty salon, empty for a couple of years; had new signage, shop had workmen in building a counter. Never opened and it’s now a hairdressers. Weird.

I think alot are fronts. The same with lots of Turkish barbers and nail bars. They pop up and disappear really quickly.

Why is that naive? Vapes are also sold where tobacco is sold. They’re just nothing like as harmful as tobacco.

If it’s the dodginess of the shopkeeper rather than the product, that could apply to any business. There’s plenty of money laundering by banks. But I see protests against them closing, not opening!

I think ‘naive’ is often used on here as a way of saying ‘I have no good argument but I’ll just bang on anyway’.

Waitrose nearby ....house prices rise.
Vape shops,Nisa convenience stores, Booze Busters....chav central.

Wow, you must have very different vape stores to the ones near me. Not in the uk but somewhere that would definitely be viewed as very affluent and a 'nice ' place to live. There are vape shops everywhere. I could drive 10 mins from my house and pass at least 4. All nice stores & definitely not what I'd consider shady. Pretty much every small shopping Plaza has a vape store, canabis dispensary & a liquor store as standard.

Poor people are much more likely to smoke and vape. I live in a very middle class area and I don’t know a single person who smokes or vapes.