“We’ve created a
following who just want
to spend time with us
whether they buy or use
our products or not”
Paul said: “We decided to open a shop so that customers could
discuss their needs and have a place where they could come in
and actually touch the products they wanted to buy.
“From launching on Facebook to opening the shop, we only had
three nights off from delivering orders during that entire period.”
Paul had a Shade E-Vaping 10ml range before the shop had
even opened as he realised early on that liquids would be
integral to switching smokers to vaping. To this day, many of
his customers exclusively vape his menthol liquid that kept
them from smoking.
Shade E-Vaping was only the fifth or sixth vape shop to open in
Birmingham but within two years there were in excess of 140.
He now also has a shop in Dudley which launched in 2017.
But it is Endless Mods with which Paul is most closely
associated. By the time he attended his first Vaper Expo in
October 2015, Paul was well on his way to finalising the protoype
for the first Endless Mods device which went on sale a month
later on November 26 - which was Paul’s late father’s birthday.
As you’d expect, Paul caught the mech mod bug early on,
amassing a collection worth in excess of £10,000. But even in
the thick of his obsession, he would happily put down a £2,000
mod and pick up the Nautilus - his main device.
Paul liked to keep himself busy on the mech mod side of things
by always trying different builds and ways of wicking. He was
able to pass this knowledge on to his customers to steer them
towards the best device to help them quit smoking and stay off
cigarettes.
He said: “People would come into the shop wanting big cloud
devices because that is what they saw their mates using but
I asked them about their smoking habits and would often
recommend different products for them.
“For me there was no better feeling then when these people
came back ten days later to tell me that they had had not
smoked a single cigarette during all that time.”
The May 2016 Expo was a watershed moment for Endless
Mods. Their initial 3x3 ft stand had to be extended to 15 metres
to accommodate all their customers and they sold out all their
stock.
Their stand at this event is bigger still and will be hard to miss
given its size, the sofas and the general chilled vibe that Paul
has been keen to cultivate since the beginning.
“We’ve created a following who just want to spend time with us
whether they buy or use our products or not,” he said.
“Sometimes it will take me 25 minutes to get back from the toilet, with
people introducing themselves on my way there and back saying: ‘I
know you from Facebook, I love what you do’ or asking for a photo. It
is all very humbling.”
A few years ago, Paul and his family went to the circus while on
holiday in Wales. They nipped outside for a vape during the interval
and caught the eye of a vaper using an Endless Mods device who
recognised Paul and introduced himself.
“It’s humbling to be well-known in the industry and to be part of
something so big and so life-changing for so many people,” said Paul.
“I still take as much time now to speak to people as I did in the early
days because without them we would not be where we are today. It’s
been a crazy journey but I have enjoyed it every step of the way and I
would do it all again in an instant if I had to.”
VAPER EXPO 93