Piqua Smoke, located at 987 East Ash St. in Piqua, opened its doors on Tuesday, Jan. 16.
Eamon Baird | Miami Valley Today
By Eamon Baird
PIQUA—Bob Shah, the new owner of Piqua Smoke, hopes to create a successful business for the area.
Shah, who has been in the smoke shop retail business for seven years, said customer service and pricing are the keys to a successful business.
“It will take me longer to build up a clientele, but once they’re here, with my prices and the service, they’re not going to go anywhere else, and if somebody says ‘I get them cheaper somewhere else’ I tell him to bring the receipt, and I’ll beat them,” Shah said.
“We’re going to have more and more products,” he said. “We’ll have what we have, but we’ll keep adding stuff, and I’m going to run out of storage room for a couple of months. But and anything they want, we get it for them,” Shah said.
As a new business, Shah is making it a point of emphasis to exceed customer service. Recently, someone called trying to find a product that wasn’t available at any other local smoke shops.
“A customer called me and said, ‘Do you have this product?’ I said no, I don’t, and I told them to take a picture, and I could get it,” Shah said.
Within a few days, the shop had ordered and received the product.
“I want to work for the people because they’re the ones that make me money,” he said.
Shah said he is selling products at prices lower than other smoke shops in the area, which will help lower the pricing of products.
“A lot of customers, clientele, and consumers will have a much better prices because once they see I’m selling low, they’re going to sell a little bit cheaper. So, it will help the public in saving money,” he said.
Piqua Smoke shops and dispensaries will be looking to capitalize on the recent passage of recreational marijuana in Ohio, but it will come at a price.
According to the Ohio Division of Cannabis Control (DCC), applications for marijuana dispensary licenses will be available by June 7, and provisional licenses will be issued by Sept. 7.
“I think the recreational license application is a lot like a lottery,” Shah said. “We don’t know who will get it. You put in an application for 5,000, and the fee is non-refundable. And then it is $80,000 if they approve you for a license,” Shah said.
Piqua Smoke located at 987 East Ash St., next to the Armed Forces Career Center. It is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and can be reached at 845-699-0314.
