Eight Cig's Customer Spotlight

Eight Cig's Customer Spotlight

We spoke with Karla, the owner of Vapors For You in Sumiton, Alabama and a customer of EightCig since April of 2018. After speaking to her for just five minutes, you can instantly tell Karla is a tough cookie. She has a caring and welcoming demeanor, layered with a coat of "no B.S." She is secure, and has faith in herself and a higher power that has blessed her with an illustrious career as a business woman.

Karla wouldn't specify exactly when she got into business, sating, "it was before any of you were born, I'm sure." But she did mention starting a successful crafting company in the 70's and later having traveled and come into business with, at the time, a young up and comer by the name of Billy Mays. Their working relationship over the years paid off well in experience and financial security. "He put my kids through college, it worked out very well," she tells us.

So naturally we came to wonder how she got into owning a vape shop. She let us know it was a suggestion from a friend and business partner. The proposed new business venture would bring Karla out of retirement. The overhead cost seemed of low risk to her, however her daughter did tell her, "Mom, don't worry. It's a fad." Karla then knew it was a gamble. "I looked for every reason NOT to get into this business." She knew nothing about the vaping business or the world of vaping as a whole community. She herself had not even began to vape yet.

But Karla went with her gut and ensured her trust in her partner. The shop started off small, as she worked alongside a man with "A beard to his belly and hair to his butt." She purchased from him for a while, until her needs exceeded what he could provide. 

As their business thrived Karla and her business partner slowly realized they were putting other stores out of business, ("they really put themselves out of business though," she claimed in defense.) but at that same time, their small 10 x 30 shop was going to get moved out by rent increases. Karla thought surely they were going to close. 

"I had a long conversation with God, I asked him to tell me what I should do..." That conversation lead her to the realization that, "If you build it, they will come."

And surely, they did. As Karla and her partner doubled down on their shop and completely invested into it, crowds continued to support her and her store and keep the shop open. Karla's customer base is of the older crowd, she claims. This may have a lot to do with the fact that she offers 20% off for all military, police, and fire department personnel, which they then go and tell their co-workers and friends in those fields about, and in come new vapers for Karla. 

When asked what gets them to keep coming in to her shop Karla let us in on her "secret sauce":

"You take care of the customer... Our number one thing here is that we do not let a mod go out unless they're vaping it, unless they've tried it. I buy quality products and I don't wanna see your face back here complaining that that something I gave you isn't working. That's not gonna happen in my store... And I sell only one type of battery in my store and I explain to them why. So if they come in with mix-matched batteries I know what happened." 

That may sound tough but rest assured that's what her customers love. 

"I'm honest with my customers. I tell it to them exactly that way. I really do. And they appreciate that, and they look for me. They come in and say, 'Where's Ms. Karla?'"

When asked what her best sellers were, Karla let us in on another secret sauce:

"We sell a boat load of Naked. And Aqua Pure... that does really good. I can buy twenty of those and be out of them in a week. For the last two years I've done DIY, which I didn't want to get into right away. I was kind of scared... But I've got three four foot shelves of all DIY... that I package and sell and it does really well." 

And if it's one thing that keeps customers returning to Karla, it is their faith and trust in her. 

"...I've sold people the very vape in my hand right under my nose. I'll tell you, all the time I do that, I can't tell you how many times. It happens. People come in and they wanna talk to me, they want to know what I have for them."

We asked her what her personal vaping favorites are:

"...Right now I like the Drag, and I have the Valyrian Tank. And Dinner Lady. The Lemon Flavor. I'm a fan of that right now. I do like it."

She also mentioned some devices, she's not exactly fond of.

"I sell what I like and what I trust when I can. But I sold a bunch of those stupid Suorin Drops so what do I know?" 

More seriously than just not liking certain devices, Karla has gut feelings about certain mods for safety reasons too.  

"...I don't like the Mag, it's overrated. I wasn't gonna carry the Mag. I don't want people mistaking it for something else, you know. It looks like a gun. I don't want that. But people wanted it, so I bought the darn things, sold a boat load of them... And [a customer] burned her thigh. Keys in her pocket reacted with the battery because it heated up and slipped out and she got a burn. And her husband was very upset."

In recalling the conversation to us, Karla described going through what happened with the customer step by step. The customer then realized she had to take the blame for not remembering all that Karla had told her about battery safety. Karla did give her a discount on her next mod because it was "The right thing to do."

"It's all about the customer service. No matter how experienced you are, shit happens. And that's the bottom line."

But beyond the basics of what makes Karla and her shop unique and thriving, her good deeds are really what sets her apart from the average shop owner. She says she is thankful to be able to do good things for others, blessed even. Karla makes care packages of vaping products which she sends overseas to the troops. She fills them with whatever she can but lately she says she has been "stuffing those boxes with MOJO's. They love them. They love the tobacco," she told Eric, the sales manager with us, "I wanna order more of those." She was glad to hear we would be getting them back in stock very shortly, and with the new strawberry flavor too.

But Karla's good deeds don't just go overseas. Karla is active on the home-front as well. She has three plots of land that are currently being converted into Veterans Villages. She is also hosting a flag retirement ceremony soon, which will involve her town, her customers, her veterans, and the local Boy Scouts. Karla also hosts food drives when she can, but her favorite thing to do in her free time, is visit with her grandchildren. 

She has four grandchildren, ages 21, 19, 12, and 7. Recently she vacationed in Orlando with her Eldest granddaughter after she called her up asking for "some grandma time".

Over all if there were one word we would have to say describes Karla, it's "Blessed". 

"I really am blessed to have you guys in my life. You make my life easier, you're different from the rest in ways I appreciate." 

When we asked what she likes about working with EightCig, and how things have changed for her store since being in business with us, she told us:

"The follow through is what's good.  Eric will call and he'll ask, 'Hey did you get your order on time?' And when I order something, you know, I want it that day. But you all are close enough. I'm all about time and that really helps me... Or I'll get a call from him saying, 'Hey this is the deal we've got going on right now' and I'll say I'll get a block [10 orders] of that. And that saves me money and helps me out." 

While on the subject of this Karla and Eric set up her next order right then and there, a block of Aegis Mini's, Drag 2's, Drag Mini's, and some SnowWolf coils. He told her he'd be sure to give her the 5% off for Black Friday, and he would call her back when we got in those MOJOs.

When asked if she was worried about any of the recent regulations that have come down on vaping she answered with confidence:

"I'm not. I'm doing the right thing."