“
The far-reaching consequences of
COVID-19 will not only impact the
future, it is impacting vapers right
now, especially the new vaper.
lockdown hit. Where are they getting their liquids from
now? Are they even still vaping? Have they switched
back to smoking?
These are questions which will be answered when
some sort of normality resumes later this year, but
there’s no doubt that some of those small independent
vape shops will not be returning at all and the huge
worry here is for villages and small towns where the
only vape shop was that small independent one.
The vapers who are there will be cut off from vaping
and be forced to go online for their orders, and for
people who have no internet access, or have no PC,
well, it means they will probably go back to smoking.
The back half of 2020 will be a trying time for the
entire industry, especially as lockdowns ease and the
true state of the vape scene in the UK, EU and US is
revealed.
I just hope the damage to the independent sector of
the shop side of things is not a permanent one. Some
countries in the EU decided to mark vape shops as
“essential services” and in those countries, vape shops
remained open, but for the vast majority of countries,
vape shops were all forced to close.
The decision by various governments not to mark vape
shops as “essential” will have a damning impact on
their stop smoking rates at the end of this summer,
and, with any luck, new questions will be asked on the
role that vape shops SHOULD have with regards to
stop smoking services.
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