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JULY/AUGUST 2015
from a trendy niche into a serious
product category that, along with more
conventional and established tobacco
products, have given Lindquist’s stores
an impressive one-two punch.
Balancing Act
The balance between tobacco and
vaping products in his stores’ product
offering has shifted over time—when
Lindquist started offering vaping
products, they represented perhaps 10
percent of the product mix overall.Today,
they represent more than 60 percent.
In fact, the success of selling vaping
products has proven so complementary
overall that he is planning to open a store
and lounge dedicated to vaping called
Vapeology on nearby Stillwater Avenue
in Bangor.
“I was lucky to have been one of earliest
retailers to carry vaping products,” says
Lindquist. “I attended a vaping show in
Las Vegas in 2010, and these products—
especially the electronic devices—really
started interesting me. So I committed to
them back when everyone else thought
they would be another fad. Most people
thought it wouldn’t last, but I told my
brother-in-law I would jump in early.
I did my research, and thankfully it’s
grown tremendously for us.”
Something for Everyone
Generally speaking,tobacco consumers
don’t typically express any concern about
the presence of vaping products in their
favorite tobacco store—to them it’s like
seeing motorcycle helmets at a car lot.
Some aren’t interested in vaping, others
are mildly curious about the products
and the physical activity. Only a handful
are genuinely affronted by their presence.
However, the sentiment among vaping
enthusiasts, particularly former smokers
who have embraced vaping as a tobacco
alternative, about the presence of tobacco
products in their favorite vape store is
very different.
Interestingly, Lindquist’s stores have
been anything but a hotbed for this
perceived conflict.Perhaps due toMaine’s
mind-your-own-business culture or
the slow but steady shift of Lindquist’s
product mix over time from tobacco-
heavy to vaping-heavy, his customers
haven’t expressed any concern about his
product mix.
“I still sell a lot of tobacco, and our
customers don’t have a problem with
anything in the stores,” he says. “The
tobacco customers who want their
tobacco products are happy; many of
them don’t want to give up smoking
because they enjoy it. And there are
always some who are thinking about
trench marketing