How To Build New Revenue Paths At Your Smoke Shop

While we are all in the business of selling smoke and vape products, a sale is a sale, no matter what you're moving. That’s why in this Got Vape Wholesale exclusive, we wanted to provide you a deep dive on how you can start building new revenue paths at your smoke shop for sustained profit growth.

Keep reading to learn all about the various products, services, and methods that your smoke shop can utilize to start growing your business today. By the end of this article you’ll have a better understanding on why alternative revenue streams can help your shop and what some sure fire paths are for you to get started with.

Table of Contents:

How Do New Revenue Paths Help My Smoke Shop?
Store Merch
Alternative Jewelry
Quality Collectibles
Drinks and Snacks
Host Events
Pet Toys
Chart New Paths

How Do New Revenue Paths Help My Smoke Shop?

New revenue paths offer your smoke shop a way to augment your current sales flow with ancillary purchases that lay outside the box of what we traditionally sell. This not only provides you with a direct line of cash, but also a fresh flow of customers who are specifically attracted to these new items.

Thus your existing buyers get to enjoy new options on the shelves and your new customers are exposed to all of the other excellent products that you have. Win their hearts with something flashy like an Elbo Raptor Vinyl Figure, then continue to provide them with basics like rolling papers for continued sales.

This principle extends to all of the different revenue paths we are going to propose, as the general idea is to use the sale of these items to grow your audience and make money at the same time.

When you establish new revenue paths, you are building the foundations to keep customers browsing for longer, boost your foot traffic, and make your smoke shop stand out in the crowd as a unique option amidst the deluge of copy-cat businesses.

Below we are going to delve into some of these new revenue paths and give you a soft pitch for why adding them to your smoke shop can benefit your business in the long run.

Store Merch

An excellent way to create a new lane of revenue with a direct off-shoot of your smoke shop, is to create some branded merchandise for customers to buy. Put your logo on some T-Shirts, Hats, or other pieces of apparel to give shoppers the chance to “take a piece” of your smoke shop home with them.

Consumers these days are all about unique products that represent something personal about themselves. Whether that’s a shirt from their favorite movie theatre or repping a public pool they used to love, the appeal of wearing a personalized brand cannot be overstated.

Branded apparel presents a massive return on investment as well, thanks to these items being easily sourced and stocked - the sky is the limit on how much you can make. Ultimately this means the stronger your brand is, the more you can end up charging for merch.

If you don’t already have a unique logo, consider either creating one yourself or speaking with an artistically inclined acquaintance to create one. Combining humor with industry specific knowledge is a great way to create a logo that customers actually want to wear, as not only are they repping their local store, but also wearing something genuinely cool.

Whenever you do go to source your merchandise, always make sure to shop around at a variety of different vendors in order to see where you can get the best possible site. It may even be worth it to contact a local t-shirt printer at first to give you more control over quality and ensure you're putting out a worthwhile product.

Having your own merchandise is a great new lane of revenue and one that actually doubles as free marketing - making it one of the most cost effective investments you could possibly make!

Alternative Jewelry

If you really think about it, the only difference between a smoke shop and a jewelry store is what they have in the glass cabinets. Which is why we wanted to point out the profit potential hidden within the otherwise unassuming world of wearable jewelry.

The audience for smoke shops and tattoo / piercing parlors has an immense amount of overlap, with both of our businesses being counter culture mainstays that share many of the same customers.

Due to this, having some fun and affordable jewelry options is an excellent path for new revenue at your smoke shop. Customers will slowly learn that your spot is the go-to location for awesome smoking paraphernalia and some cool jewelry, increasing your potential for foot traffic as well.

Just take a look at our Mmmelty 72pc Earring Display, a gorgeous collection of different hand made glass earrings with fitting designs like water pipes and mushrooms to choose from. These are all primed to appeal to your customers, while offering up something completely new for them to purchase.

The Mmmelty Earrings even come with a point of sale ready display set, complete with a rotating base that lets shoppers easily see each of the different earrings in all of their glory for an all in one addition to your inventory.

Quality Collectibles

Going hand in hand with wearable jewelry, we have the vast category of “collectibles” that encompasses a wide variety of displayable products. As opposed to functional pieces, these items are just here because customers think they are cool and love to collect them.

And let us emphasize that last point: customers love to collect unique items and figurines that have something new to say. Recent rushes on items other nostalgia baiting products have shown just how much of a market there is for these items, so finding a way to add this lane to your smoke shop is a potent revenue opportunity.

A great example of collectibles lies with the highly sought after work of Elbo, an artist that Got Vape Wholesale has distributed for years. They have a series of Key Chains, Plush and Vinyl Figures, and even Rugs to add some unique collectible flair to your shelves.

Customers need only take one look at something like the Elbo Glass Gray Steggo Vinyl Figure for them to fall in love with its comically ambivalent prehistoric disposition. With other dinosaur characters available including Pterodactyls and Raptors -this provides a good example of how collectibles are released in a set.

Not only do collectibles provide the initial sale, but if you are successful in stocking ones that customers really take a liking to - you are setting up a repeat customer as they attempt to collect the full sets of these various items.

Altogether this makes heady collectibles a great new lane of revenue that can help boost your customers base and provide yet another reason to stop in at your smoke shop.

Drinks and Snacks

For some natural synergy, you could look into stocking non-alcoholic drinks and snacks at your smoke shop as another revenue stream. As customers will naturally get hungry or thirsty after smoking / vaping, this lets them kill two birds with one stone.

In order to legally sell food and drinks at your shop, make sure to check out your state's particular zoning laws and see if you need an additional license. Due to food safety regulations there are some hoops you have to jump through to legally sell these items, but once you have the proper permits you are good to go.

Be aware that some counties and jurisdictions take particular issue with smoke / tobacco shops also carrying beverages and snacks. While this is a minority of locations, it’s incredibly important for you to understand what your local laws say, in order to avoid any costly mistakes.

Once you're all squared away, selling drinks and snacks is about as easy as it gets. With a natural flow of customers already coming in, these easy grab-n-go items are a great way to consistently see your sales rise.

With a low cost of investment and a very high return, selling drinks and snacks is one of the most simple yet lucrative options available for diversifying your income streams.

Host Events

Using your smoke shop as a venue to host various events is another great revenue path to explore. This gives you the opportunity to temporarily switch your business up to be a purveyor of various cultural events that draw in customers for brand new reasons.

Some examples could range from hosting a popular brand, to inviting in a local artist to do a meet n greet with your store as the destination. Here the sky really is the limit in terms of what you can do, as there are an endless amount of creative events you could schedule.

Now the effectiveness of this point may vary depending on the size of your shop, but just look at what NPR does with their Tiny Desk concerts to see how you can use your restrictions to host something truly special.

Whether you charge a door fee or just rely on the increased foot traffic to boost your sales, how exactly you monetize these events is up to you.

If you're feeling stumped on where to turn, try looking to local clubs and organizations that already do events related to smoking / vaping. For example you could reach out to a group that gets together for paint n’ dab sessions and see if you could host your own / get in on the fun.

This is a great way to access a pre-built group of customers and shows that your shop supports these grass roots communities as a way to build your smoke shop's reputation.

Pet Toys

When it comes to boosting your sales, catering to man's best friend is no joke. In fact in the USA alone 2/3 of households report having a pet and in total spend over 100 billion dollars a year on their beloved furry friends.

That’s why diversifying your inventory with items like Pet Toys, is a great new lane of revenue for your smoke shop that taps you into a massive customer base and lets customers treat their pets with toys that fit the counter culture vibes of their owners.

We have some fun options with faux hemp blunts and joint dog toys taking on iconic shapes, but built with the durability needed to survive play time with canines. For all of our feline friends, there also are Kali Kat products that have inventive designs and come with addable catnip.

By having a steady collection of new pet toys coming into your shop, you're giving owners the incentive to come back again and again to see what you’ve got in stock. They may even bring their pet with them - which should you allow it, is a great way to demonstrate that your shop is a friendly store customers can trust.

Chart New Paths

Now that you have a general idea on the various methods you can use to build new revenue paths at your smoke shop, it’s time for you to see which ones speak most to your customer base and try some out.

Like with anything new it may take a few tries to get down, but all of the effort you put in now to build these new revenue streams is going to pay off in dividends later. When you are making consistent sales from a variety of different paths, you’ll be happy you spent the time building them.

Thanks for stopping in with us and make sure to take a look at our Smoke Shop Wholesale Blog here to stay up to date on new products and industry happenings. In the past couple of weeks we’ve broken down the recent Texas THC Ban and created a definitive guide to the best vape pens of 2025.