Let’s cut the crap.
2025 isn’t the year to play small.
If you own a smoke shop and you’re still running it like it’s 2019, you’re not just risking profit—you’re risking everything you’ve built.
Here are the 10 critical mistakes I see smoke shop owners making right now that are destroying their stores, killing their reputation, and nuking their legacy.
Read this. Then fix it.
1. Ignoring Regulatory Shifts
The FDA is gunning for the industry.
Delta raids. Disposable bans. Surprise local inspections.
If you’re not keeping up with federal and state regulations on a weekly basis, you're flying blind. And you will crash.
What to do: Subscribe to smoke shop news. Get alerts. Know the law better than your local inspector.
2. Putting All Your Chips on Disposables
Still making most of your money from vapes?
You’re one law away from bankruptcy.
Disposables are hot—but they’re also a ticking time bomb. The smart shop owners are using them as a launchpad, not a crutch.
What to do: Build revenue streams that survive without them—glass, botanicals, merch, high-margin oddities.
3. Having No Real Identity
If your shop has no edge, no story, no energy—it’s forgettable. And forgettable shops don’t last.
What to do: Define your vibe. Whether it’s high-end, stoner culture, alternative lifestyle—own it and make your space match it.
4. Terrible Inventory Habits
You’re overstocked on slow movers, understocked on what sells, and you don’t even know it.
That’s not inventory—that’s silent theft of your own money.
What to do: Track your sales weekly. Drop dead weight. Rotate inventory with purpose.
5. Hiring Lazy, Untrained Staff
Hiring “cool people” who like to hang around is not a business strategy. It’s a liability.
What to do: Hire people who hustle, upsell, and watch the register like it’s their money—because it is.
6. Zero Online Presence
Still no Google listing? No Instagram? No e-commerce?
Wake up. If you're not online in 2025, you don’t exist. Customers check you out before they ever step foot inside.
What to do: Claim your Google Business, post regularly on IG, get a site, and start collecting emails.
7. Selling the Same Boring Stuff
Everyone sells grinders and papers. That’s not a niche—it’s noise.
What to do: Add the unexpected.
Rare hot sauces. Premium incense. Odd snacks. Tarot cards. Stuff that makes people say, “Wait…what?” and BUY.
8. Letting Theft Slide
Internal or external—if you’re not actively fighting theft, you’re being robbed in real time.
What to do: Install cameras. Audit your stock. Fire fast. No one is untouchable.
9. Not Building a Community
You’re not just selling products—you’re building a culture. If you’re not rewarding loyalty, connecting with regulars, or doing anything for your top customers…
You’re a transaction, not a brand.
What to do: Run events. Start a Discord. Offer loyalty rewards. Build your tribe.
10. Getting Comfortable
2024 might’ve been a great year. Doesn’t matter.
The game resets every January.
Laws change. Products evolve. Trends die. If you’re coasting, you’re falling behind.
What to do: Keep learning, keep innovating, keep grinding.
Final Word:
If you're making one or two of these mistakes, fix them now.
If you're making more than five—you’re on borrowed time.
This industry doesn’t care how passionate you are or how long you’ve been doing it.
It rewards precision, speed, hustle, and vision.
Want help fixing your shop before it crashes?
Hit up ChadWadeTV.com for guides, resources, consulting, and more raw truth to help you survive—and win.