Smoke Shops Are Open In Alabama During The Shutdown
“We are doing it safe here, we have hand sanitizers, and our sales have gone up”
Business is booming inside the 1st Avenue Hookah and Vape Shop in the Avondale neighborhood of Birmingham where Don Scott is fielding orders for hookahs and vapes and pipes during a respiratory pandemic.
The small vape and smoke shop remains open, omitted from a list of “essential” business but also not included among the businesses listed for closure under Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey’s stay-at-home order.
If people maintain 6-feet social distancing, and the capacity is restricted inside the store, the tobacco and electronic cigarette sales can go on.
“We are doing it safe here, we have hand sanitizers, and our sales have gone up,” said Scott. “They’ve not stopped.”
The fact that vape shops throughout Alabama remain open is a concern for anti-smoking advocates and state lawmakers who, in recent years, pushed for a crackdown on an industry accused at times of peddling flavored products to underage youths.
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