I remember before I worked in a vape shop, I had always wondered what it would be like to work in one. I always wanted to work in one and luckily I got the opportunity to get a job that I absolutely love!
The first thing before you even get into the job aspect of it is the knowledge that you need to have to work in a vape shop. We all have our vaping device or maybe a few different ones that we know really well, but for this job, you have to know much more than your own devices. A great way to get that sort of knowledge and something that I did just for fun when I didn't have this job was simply watching videos on all the new devices and juices that were coming out. This really helped me gain the knowledge I needed for the job that I happened to apply for later.
Once you're in the job is when you really understand how little you actually know about vaping and how much more knowledge the people who work in the industry have on vaping. At least in my case, I thought I knew almost everything already when I started but quickly found out there was so much more. From hardware to juices, there's a lot to learn, understand and teach yourself as vaping is an ever-developing industry. I was behind the counter for once instead of in front and it was sweet, but I could see everything I didn't really know about. Those first few days of training are fun but it's a lot of information that you have to absorb from your trainer.
After the training days, you're the one that all the customers rely on for advice. This is the nervous point in time because you’ve only just begun and you want to set people up with the right device and juice for them. Working in a vape shop is one of the rare jobs where 80% of the time the customer is relying on you to get it right. When it's a new vaper customer, that means I have to ask them a series of questions in order to find the right device that suits them. I have to ask a heap of generic style questions and have a knowledge of what devices will give them the experience they are looking for. It doesn’t stop there however, I then have to get the juice flavour right for them. These are all the types of things that you get better at over time and why it's always a good thing to ask your vape store shop-keep any questions you may have as we know a lot of information and are good at finding what's right for every customer. I won’t say we are perfect by any means, but we are very knowledgeable and by all means, use us for help!
When you work at a vape shop, there's more than just helping the customers of course. The customers are the best part and we enjoy our interactions with our customers. We love to hear about the journeys for the customers when quitting smoking, this is what makes the job fulfilling because we know we are helping people every day to live a healthier life. The other stuff behind the scenes, of course, is simply keeping the shop clean and organized, making sure we are keeping up to date with our inventory ordering, stocking our shelves when we get everything in and most importantly having the items the customers need. This is the part that can get tedious but it's all essential for us to offer our customers the best experience possible. We have to keep up to date on the new products that are constantly coming out because there might be something that’s even better for our customers and that’s part of the fun!
We also tend to do a lot of communication between stores. Even though we don't work in the same building as each other, we still are constantly talking to each other, asking questions, organizing for stock to be moved to and from stores to help our customers wherever they may be. I might be at the Caboolture location over the weekend where I have a product that a customer from the Banyo location wants. I’ll then personally bring that product from Caboolture to Banyo for that one specific customer. We do all that we can for our customers and sometimes that means making trips to and from shops outside of our scheduled working hours, but it’s all worth it when you get something sorted for a customer and see the smile on their face.
One of the best things for us in the shop is when the customers like us and just want to have a little chat and hang out. This is fun for us and gives us the chance to connect with our customers which we all enjoy. We try to remember everyone’s names and hope that they remember ours as well (this can be harder than you think!). Another thing, this blog post right now, this is another part of the job that many of us enjoy; we get to teach our customers all of the things we wished we knew about when starting our vaping journey.
This is what it's like to work in a vape shop, at least in Australia that is. It's a fun job and one that we all have a passion for. With more Super Vape Store locations on the rise, feel free to apply if you line up well with this blog post here. If you like what you hear, have the knowledge, and like to help people in a customer service position then we look forward to hearing from you! If you just think you’d like to be a customer at Super Vape Store, keep your eyes open cause one might be coming to your town soon!
David
-Super Vape Store Caboolture