Today we’d like to introduce you to Nellie Del Rosario.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Nellie. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
In 2013, my boss, who was a heavy smoker, came into work on New Year’s Day with a vape pen. I asked him, are you trying to quit smoking? He said “Yes, I’m going to try to quit this year so I picked up one of this vape pen.” I said, ” That’s really good that you’re trying to quit!” I, personally, wasn’t a smoker but I’ve always encouraged my friends to quit smoking. 5 months go by and I actually went to a vape shop myself to pick up a pen to see what the hype was all about on vaping. I started with a Pink Starburst flavored e-liquid with no nicotine. I thought it was “cool” so I showed my boss my new pen. And then after he tried the flavor I had in my pen, we looked at each other and he said, “Hey. What do you think about us being business partners and opening up a vape shop?” I looked at him and said, “Really? Sounds like it might be a market that’s going to grow, but I have no idea about building RDAs or anything about it. I’ll research and learn how to do everything though.” Then we just started brainstorming a business plan.
My job was to research as much as I could so I could learn everything. I was e-mailing companies in China (because there were no US Vape Distributors yet) and asking them about price lists. At the time, Chinese companies had minimum order quantities on all their pens, mods, RDA, batteries, chargers, etc. Finding e-liquid companies was a little challenging too at the time because we wanted US made e-liquid. I found out about a vape convention and went to go start networking with US vape companies. That was the place to be to find products and e-liquids. It was very small at first, but now all the vape conventions are huge and they go for 3 days long sometimes. We ordered a lot of product but didn’t even have a location yet.
We found the location for our store front about 4 months after we started our business plan. From there, we set up the shop and only had about 20 flavors at the time. We opened up the shop and it was pretty rough for the first couple months that we were open because nobody knew we were here. We started doing some online marketing and set up our social media accounts. Ever since we opened, we’ve been growing in our number of customers, hardware and e-liquids. Like I said, we started with 20 flavors, and now we’re up to 200+ flavors. We always ask a new customer how they found us, and most of the time they’ll say they searched on Google and Yelp. Others will say they heard by word-of-mouth from friends. This December will be 4 years for us and we’ve built great customer and business relationships ever since.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I’d say the main struggle at first was getting onto the vape map so that people could find us. We had to figure out how to market ourselves and we did some old school marketing by passing out flyers at SDSU or buying ads in local papers. Then we had to figure out how to get on the front page of Google since tons of people typically use that search engine. Once we established a good site, Google started recognizing our online presence. Now when you type in “e-cig San Diego or vape shop near me” we are on the front page of Google.
e-Cig Creations – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We are a vape shop and lounge. We have a tasting bar for customers to try flavors before they buy them which is really cool because sometimes a flavor you find online will sound good, but you won’t know until you get the bottle delivered to you. Sometimes you’ll get lucky and find a good flavor, but sometimes you won’t and you end up wasting money on e-liquid that you probably won’t use. Here at the shop, you can taste test any of the flavors we carry. Then when you find the winning e-liquid that you like, you’re satisfied with your purchase. I am extremely proud of my staff for providing excellent customer service to everyone. Even if you’re new to vaping, we take the time to sit down with you and help you learn everything about your mod, tank, RDA or whatever it is you need help with. We have a very chill vibe here at the shop because we want everyone to be comfortable asking questions. The whole vape world is a lot to take in, but we like to try to make things simple so that you’re not frustrated with your device and you don’t revert back to smoking cigarettes. I definitely would say that we stand apart from other vape shops because of the knowledge that my staff has with each product that we sell. Even if you don’t know what parts you need, we can figure it out for you. We’ve had a lot of customers tell us that we always help them out very well.
We also offer a rewards program here. You basically earn points towards free e-liquid or coils. We use the SpotOn App for our rewards program, the way our system is set up is basically when you buy 10 bottles of e-liquid, your next one is free, but it all depends on what size bottle you’re purchasing. Bottles of e-liquid will get 1-6 points, depending on size. Then on your rewards card, it’ll show how many points you’ve accumulated. And depending on the number of points you have earned will reflect what size bottle you can get for free. I think a lot of our customers love our rewards program, I mean, who doesn’t like getting free stuff for being a loyal customer?
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I define success as reaching goals I set for the shop. We figure out how much is needed for the day to break even. At the end of the day, if we reach that goal or go past the amount we set, then we were successful that day. If we have a slow day, I’ll see the average for the week and compare it to past weeks to see if we’re maintaining our average or doing better or worse. Also, seeing more new faces in the shop means we’re pulling in new customers every day. I believe that’s part of being successful as well because we’re opening up to more customers. More customers, means more growth. More growth, means being successful.
Pricing:
- Starter kits range from $25-$75
- e-Liquid prices range from $12-$60 depending on bottle size
- Full set up on advanced mods with mod, tank/RDA, batteries, charger and e-liquid would start about $150
Contact Info:
- Address: 6375 El Cajon Blvd. Ste. C
San Diego, CA 92115 - Website: www.ecigcreations.com
- Phone: 619-582-1392
- Email: sales@ecigcreations.com
- Instagram: @ecigcreations
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/ecigcreations
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/e-cig-creations-san-diego
Image Credit:
Ethan Maxwell
Nellie Del Rosario
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
