Puff & Pour already is selling vape products, soon will add liquor to sales floor

Tim Harty, The Business Times

The puff is available now, and the pour is coming soon to the business that moved into the building where Bookcliff Liquors once resided.

The Puff is primarily e-cigarettes, and the Pour will be beer, wine and spirits in Puff & Pour, which opened for business Oct. 7 with only half of its business on display at 3026 Patterson Road.

The puffing side is ready, so co-owners Sunny Patel and his brother-in-law Chris Patel, opened the business to serve those customers. They got the local approval they needed to sell alcohol, but now they’re waiting for the state to process their license. They hope to get the go-ahead by mid-December, or at least before Christmas.

While there are no shelving units set up at the moment, Sunny said that will be resolved quickly.

“We already have the shelves and everything ready,” he said. “We just didn’t put it in yet until we get the OK.”

Until then, Sunny and Chris will get up to speed on the vapes, cigarettes, cigars, glass pipes and more that constitute the puffing side.

Sunny Patel said Puff & Pour will stand out because of its hybrid nature.

“Usually what happens is there is just a liquor store, and there is just a vape store,” he said. “We just need this small space to be a full vape thing, and we have enough space for the liquor, so that’s why we’re like, ‘Oh, we’re just going to do both.’”

Actually, their initial inclination was to open just a vape store, but Sunny said building owner Pam Hambright, who owned and operated Bookcliff Liquors in the space previously, got them thinking they can do more. After all, the 4,800 square feet for Puff & Pour was already equipped to be a liquor store, and Sunny said Hambright had loyal customers that may appreciate the return of a liquor store to that space.

So, the Patels didn’t need a lot of coaxing to buy into to the hybrid-store idea.

“She inspired us, saying go for both,” Sunny said. “She already had a good business over here. But just because she retired and she didn’t want to do the liquor store anymore, that’s why she closed it. “

There’s also the logic that people who buy vaping products and alcohol may prefer going to one store instead of two.

“It’s way more convenient for them just to have both at one place,” Sunny said. 

For vaping products, Sunny said Puff & Pour carries name brands that people recognize and offers a wide variety of flavors.

Because Denver voters recently banned flavored tobacco products, Sunny acknowledged there’s concern that a ban could happen one day in Grand Junction, but he thinks Puff & Pour would be OK. He said many people are turning to vapes, because it is a lower-nicotine product than cigarettes, and vaping is cheaper than smoking cigarettes. Therefore, demand will remain.

“People like more flavored,” he said. “But if it’s not flavored, then I know people still prefer vapes more than the cigarettes.”

For alcohol products, Puff & Pour will carry beer, wine and spirits, but it won’t try to stock a vast variety. Rather, it will cater to its loyal customers, carrying what customers request.

“In terms of the space and stuff like that, we’re not able to compete with (larger liquor stores). We’re just trying to be whatever our customer base wants,” Sunny said. “Initially we are going to bring most of the high-selling stuff, and then afterward whatever the customer wants.

“So, if they like a certain beer, we go out there and get it for them. That’s just how we’re going to do it. Someone comes in and is like, ‘Hey, this is our flavor, we want you to carry them,’ we will try to get that for them. That’s the thing we’re going to focus on.”

The other thing Sunny thinks is going to appeal to both kinds of customers at Puff & Pour is the pricing.

“So right now we are one of the lowest with the prices anywhere,” Sunny said for vapes.

He said it will be similar for alcohol.

Plus, they will offer weekly deals, and Puff & Pour is just outside the City of Grand Junction’s boundaries, meaning it doesn’t charge the city’s higher sales-tax rate.

Seeking loyalty and rewarding it

Puff & Pour co-owner Sunny Patel spoke frequently about building a base of loyal customers, and the store has a vape promotion that appears to be a good start.

On top of prices that Patel believes are already competitive, Puff & Pour will reward its first 100 customers with 15 percent off vapes for the next year (until November 2026).

A large sign on the front of the building says as much, telling customers: “Don’t wait … because loyalty deserves reward.”

Enough experience to give retail a try

Sunny Patel and fellow co-owner Chris Patel have a background in hotel management and are part owners of Super 8 and Econo Lodge hotels in Grand Junction.

Sunny said his hotel experience in Colorado included seven years in Gunnison, then three years in Grand Junction. Before that, he worked some part-time jobs in retail, and he said Chris also has some experience in retail, so they opened Puff & Pour with some confidence in their abilities.

“That’s why I was like, ‘OK, we’re just going to give it a try,’” Sunny said.