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**** Update 9/15/2024 -
In the process of switching online payment providers, Shopify has however caused a delay - until they resolve this issue, orders can still be placed and paid via Etransfer by sending to "orders@hazevapeco.com".
Sorry for any inconvenience, Shopify states they have escalated the issue to "Urgent", and we hope to have it resolved in the next few days. This will not disrupt deliveries or cause delays.
- Sean
Where do I begin?
TLDR: Our Bow Bottom store is now closed, but we're still in business. Online checkout will be disabled until Sept. 15th while we restructure, but we'll be back with new deals and offers, your existing rewards points, and more to offer for local delivery! You can log in using the same email address you've used in the past for Rewards Points, you can view products, but the Checkout process is currently disabled until Sept. 15th.
What happened?
As you're probably aware, we closed our "flagship" Macleod Trail store last November. With so many vape shops opening in local neighborhoods around the city and less customer traffic in the downtown Macleod Trail area; a huge increase in cost of product due to the new Vape tax in January of 2023, 2023 really became time for "Plan B" for that store, which is why we started the "Sweet Stop" concept. It was taking off, but it was too little, too late, with too little capital to grow.
In making the effort to keep that store's dream alive, we (meaning "I") knowingly made the notoriously bad decision to "borrow" resources from our Bow Bottom Trail store, as evidenced by the incredibly low inventories we had over the past year or two. It definitely hurt us and you, our customers - but after making the incredibly difficult decision to finally close our Macleod Trail store, we were making huge inroads to getting the Bow Bottom Trail store back to where it should be.
And we were succeeding. I had been in talks with the landlords for Bow Bottom, and while we were asking a lot, they were incredibly helpful during our tough times. We just needed Summer of 2024 to get back to a healthy level of inventory and we would be able to catch up on bills from the past year. July 2024 was a record month. Going into August, I was finally confident we would be able to get past all our setbacks.
August 12th however, we got the sudden surprise that our arrangement with the landlord was no longer an option. Our doors got locked. I knew it COULD happen, but there was no indication that it WOULD happen. All I can do is guess that an offer for the space came through that they couldn't refuse.
We were on track to BEAT July's sales when this nearly literal BOMBSHELL got dropped on us. They had every right to do it, it just wasn't something I was prepared for, especially when things were really looking up.
The Road Ahead
If you've been a long time customer of ours, you know I don't give up. We've been through a lot of struggles over the years, with tough competition just blocks away, taxes, myths and misinformation in the media about vaping, supplier issues due to an industry still in its' infancy, and building a business from nothing should have ended Haze a dozen times over the years.
I'm not giving up now either. We started Haze with online sales, as far as I'm concerned we've now got almost no overhead that might just be the opportunity to start fresh. An opportunity might come up in the near future to re-open a store, but right now there are no available spaces in the Deer Valley shopping area.
With local deliveries becoming more and more popular thanks to Covid, and the lowered overhead of not having a commercial space to lease, we can offer FREE delivery on local orders over $25. Our current delivery service picks up and delivers orders twice a day, though we're still hunting for a service that can do on-demand deliveries (if you know of one that will deliver vape products, please reply and let us know!).
Due to distributor agreements that ensure all stores remain competitive, we can't offer lower pricing than what distributor and manufacturers require, but we still have other options to offer - more to come as they develop.
Rewards Points
Everyone's points are still intact - our Rewards system has always spanned both online and instore purchases, so you can have some peace of mind that you can still spend them with your online orders.
Read below on what to do next.
What now?
The vast majority of our customers never gave up on us during our tough times, I think we owe it to you to not give up on you. If you're ready to throw in the towel, by all means, I understand - just unsubscribe from our emails, and we won't bother you with all the upcoming changes and special deals and discounts we're working on.
Thank you sincerely for all your support.
How do I order online with my in-store account?
If you're willing to continue to allow us to give it our best shot, please keep an eye out for our emails.
You can log in to www.hazevapeco.com using the email address you provided to us for your rewards points. You'll be emailed a one-time confirmation code and instructions to continue with adding online access to your rewards.
Thank you.
Thank you for being an integral part of our journey. Your trust and enthusiasm have driven us to keep fighting the good fight, whether it's advocacy for vapers or the business of vaping, and we can't wait to continue this journey with you.
One Last thing.
The final "wrench" in all of this: during all of the past couple of weeks' events, I had made plans to visit my very ill father in another province. We managed to push our accommodations back by two weeks to allow time to deal with the closure of the store, but I have no choice but to make this trip. I'm going to use the next 2 weeks to work remotely to put together plans on what sort of offers we can provide. In the meantime, you should be able to create a login to access your Rewards status and view products, but Checkout is closed until Sept. 15th.
Thank you again. Haze is nothing without its' customers who have been there for us all these years.
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