New E-cigarette Store Faces Resistance from West End Business Owners

The recent opening of electronic cigarette store Digital Ciggz in the West End has many people questioning if the new business is a good fit for the neighborhood.

The store, which totes colorful merchandise for the electronic oral device at 1560 Fourth St., opened earlier this month. When he first applied for the lease at the spot nestled between Blue Moon Comics and United Liquors around two months ago, owner Michael Mullins faced some opposition from his neighboring business owners who questioned if his product was going to appeal to children. 

Both Pirate's Cove, located on the next block on Fourth Street, and United Liquors sell e-cigarettes. Some businesses did not want to welcome another store on the block that sells smoking devices, according to a petition that was circulating before Digital Ciggz opened. Other members from the community wondered if the new store, which features items like candy cigarettes and vaporizing liquids in flavors like Cinnamon rolls, encouraged children to take up smoking.

"My demographic is 25 to 55," Mullins said. "We check the ID of any customer who looks underage and it's against the law to sell to anyone under 18."

An e-cigarette is an electronic oral device that provides a vapor of nicotine or any other substance, which simulates smoking. The vapor is produced by a liquid where the amount of nicotine can be adjusted or excluded completely, depending on the user's desire. An e-cigarette does not contain tobacco and does not emit tobacco smoke, according to a staff report drafted by the city when it approved its smoking ordinance in October. The device is currently in a legal grey area, since it is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration and is not regulated because its not considered a tobacco product.

Mullins has been in the e-cigarette business for four years, and owns a store in Santa Rosa. "At the Santa Rosa store, people come up and hug me and tell me that the product changed their lives," he said.

As an e-cigarette smoker who quit regular cigarettes three and a half years ago, Mullins believes the e-cigarette is an alternative to the "quit or die" policy other organizations like the American Lung Association impose.

"It's not a quitting device. We never market it that way," he said. "It's more a device for people who enjoy smoking, but don't want all the bad side effects, like smelly hair or breath."

Blackout curtains shroud Digital Ciggz's windows so minors can't gaze inside. The store has a glass counter in the back, that features customizable e-cigarettes and accessories that range from disposable starter packs to more expensive kits. A lounge at the front of the store allows customers to relax and "vape" while they wait or after they purchase their equipment.

When city staff was drafting the smoking ban, they decided to exclude e-cigarettes "since they do not emit secondhand smoke, fire hazards appear to be low, and there is no, or very minimal, litter potential as there is with regular cigarettes," the staff report says.

Marin jurisdictions are divided over the regulation of e-cigarettes. Marin County and Mill Valley include e-cigarettes in their smoking ordinances. The county has a special provision allowing e-cigarettes to be smoked within a multi-family residential unit, but not in outdoor areas where smoking is prohibited. Sausalito, Larkspur and Novato do not regulate e-cigarettes.

Although the petition against Digital Ciggz died after the store opened, many businesses remain skeptical. After hearing of their resistance, Mullins hosted a meeting to introduce himself to the local businesses. Not many showed up.

"For the fact that there is no ordinance covering this method of addiction, their cigarette lawyers saw a way into a neighborhood which otherwise would have banned their nicotine-based product," Jonathan Frieman said in an email.

Frieman attended Mullins' meeting and appeared at the October City Council session to urge the city to include e-cigarettes in their smoking ordinance. "Sneaky business like that irritates a community which attempts to be fair and upstanding. With a school nearby... they'll stick out worse than a sore thumb," he said.

With many new businesses setting up shop in the last year and a flurry of events to encourage shoppers to come to the area, the West End is in the middle of a Renaissance. Business owners, like Joel Eis at Rebound Bookstore, don't think Digital Ciggz fits with their vision of the neighborhood.

"I don't think this is positive," Eis said. After meeting Mullins, Eis spent an hour in his Santa Rosa store. "Every single person there was what I would call trailer trash and was looking to increase their nicotine habit," he said.

Despite the resistance, Mullins said he has not received any complaints from passers-by and he hopes more people will open up to the store once they settle in. Until then, he is hoping his actions speak louder than his words. He applied for a tobacco resale license, even though his business doesn't require one. He trains his employees with the "We Card" program to check IDs and has a portable ID scanning device to spot and store fakes.

"Everyone is scared of change," he said. "But all I can do is uphold myself as a respectable business owner and hope that speaks for itself."

For the record: After the publication of this article, Rebound Bookstore owner Joel Eis wrote the editor with this clarification regarding customers at the Santa Rosa store. "The point of the remark was that this social class is one of the most exploited in America and this product cynically exploits their continuing an addiction, rather than truly helping them quit nicotine," Eis wrote. "None of the people I observed in the store in Santa Rosa seemed interested in quitting nicotine. They all were seeking a way to continue using it. And this business helps them along."

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