Home Conferences Dunstable retailer named Vape Convenience Retailer of the Year at Asian Trader Awards

Dunstable retailer named Vape Convenience Retailer of the Year at Asian Trader Awards

November 22, 2019

vapebusiness
L-R: Jan Louw (Logic), Alex Kapadia, Ramniklal Solanki CBE, Shailesh Solanki, Rory Bremner

Alex Kapadia who runs the Bargain Booze Select Convenience store at Dunstable won the Vape Convenience Retailer of the Year at this year’s Asian Trader Awards held on 6 November 2019 at London’s Westminster Park Plaza hotel.

Judges said: “Alex has four stores which all have purpose-built e-cigarette cabinets. On the top half of the cabinet he displays the kit and accessories and underneath he uses it to organise and store 10ml liquid refills. Stocking over 200 strengths and flavours, he believes if customers can’t see you have the flavour they want they assume you don’t sell it.”

Alex said: “We didn’t want to be another retailer with a counter-top stand trying to push a few pounds of sales but not living up to the vape store. We wanted our staff to know what they are talking about, so they can help new customers or teach customers when they just need a replacement coil or something. We trained 30 staff and developed e-training in partnership with some of the vape manufacturers and this consists of six modules and multiple choice questions.”

Kiran Paul
By Kiran Paul
With a background that spans both the agility of startup environments and the established presence of Asian Media Group, Kiran tries to bring a well-rounded perspective to his work. His career as a journalist began at a dynamic news startup, where he honed his reporting and storytelling skills for five years, gaining valuable experience in a fast-paced and evolving media landscape. Since 2018, he has been contributing to Asian Trader, where a standout feature of his work has been his in-depth interviews with award-winning retailers, which he transforms into insightful profiles that appear in each issue. Since 2021, he has also been at the helm of the sister title, Vape Business.