Aaron McCracken, a husband and father of three, is just 31 years old, but already he has three brick and mortar shops. One of those shops is located in the community of Guilford in Howard County.
McCracken’s business and others like his are under fire on the local, state, and federal levels. While some in government seem to be taking a dim view to McCracken’s business, he has a more enlightened story to tell about his enterprise, Mean Street Vapor, located at 7060 Oakland Mills Road in the Oakwood Center.
According to McCracken, vaping, the practice of using electronic cigarettes, is a means to wean customers off of tobacco products. McCracken said that his “staff spends time with new customers educating them and doing counseling.” McCracken hand picks his staff, currently 13 in three locations. He said that he wants good customer service.
At the Guilford location, except for the inside vapor that greets you, the setting is much like a cafe’ or coffee house. There are tables and sofas, a television and a bar. The environment is inviting and the staff are hospitable.
Regular customers, or those accustomed to vaping, discuss with staff what flavor they want and also what level of nicotine they desire. For instance, according to McCracken, you can ask for 40 percent or you could go for zero. It’s all up to the customer.
When founding his first location in Glen Burnie back in September 2013, he set a goal, which “was to get people off smoking,” McCracken said.
McCracken admitted to being a former smoker. He said it took him longer than expected to stop smoking, but vaping was the method he used. The same way he stopped smoking is the same way his staff helps customers to quit. Unlike cigarettes, customers can set the level of desired nicotine and also control the power of the nicotine delivery device. Customers serious about overcoming the nicotine addiction decrease the nicotine levels over time and some decrease the wattage on their devices.
Mean Street Vapor always offered zero percent nicotine products, but recently the Federal Drug Administration issued a regulation making zero nicotine products a mandatory offering at vaping stores.
In a recent interview with McCracken, he emphasized the lack of regulations for the vaping industry when he started his business, so “we self regulate ourselves.” McCracken pushes purity of product and a high level of cleanliness.
Mean Street Vapor buys some products from other manufacturers, but mostly they make their own. The back room in Guilford looks much like a lab. Workers wear head and beard coverings, use sterilized instruments, and wear disposable gloves. Products are safety sealed to prove purity. McCracken has strict guidelines on the preparation of the vaping mixtures. Employees who do not follow the protocols are fired.
The actual vaping product is nothing more than liquid food flavoring and some percentage of nicotine. These mixtures are placed in one of two types of delivery devices – either a regulated device or a mechanical device. The regulated device is more sophisticated with automatic settings and other features. The mechanical device is completely manual. All devices run on batteries. Some of the devices in the past had potential hazards, but like any industry, the vaping industry produced safer devices after discovering the bugs.
The real hype over vaping centers around flavors. While Mean Street Vapor has its standard inventory of flavors — 32 on the menu, such as the ever-popular Krunchberry and other flavors such as Smores and Glazed Donut, according to McCracken, his team can take requests and make new flavors.
For critics who claim that Mean Street Vaping may be encouraging smoking, McCracken says it is “very rare for someone to do a drive by. Most of our customers find us on Facebook and on the web.” The establishment does not serve minors. According to McCracken, “No one under 18 is allowed to come into the store without a parent or guardian.”
Fridays and Saturdays are the busiest days and every Wednesday is movie night. Mean Street Vaping offers complimentary bottled water and coffee. McCracken opened the Guilford location in July 2015 and then in September opened a new location in Easton, Maryland. His Guilford store is not the success he had anticipated. McCracken said his revenue is only at 25% of his Glen Burnie location.
Mean Street Vapor gives back to the community. They offer 10% discounts to military and first-responders and they send vaping packages to military units stationed in Afghanistan.
To encourage his workforce, McCracken instituted an employee of the month program and he offers Christmas bonuses.