Pinch shares this recent reveal at 223 E. 14th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue... where signage is up for Smokers Zone 1. The signage promises a smoke shop, snacks and drinks, and vaporizers.
This marks what seems like the 87th* smoke shop to open here in the last year.
This storefront has been vacant since Fat Cat Kitchen closed in late 2019 after 2.5 years in business.
* not an accurate number!
Ugh. The one on St Marks really bums me out.
ReplyDelete87 smoke shops - Houston, we have a MAJOR problem
ReplyDeleteI’m seeing more 20-somethings smoking cigarettes, which they seem to think is cooler than vaping now, since smoking is so retro. I’m also seeing more smoking in newly released movies, and lots of chain smoking on Netflix, which they seem to think adds drama. So why after all these years of realizing how deadly smoking is, in the middle of a pandemic when people are afraid of the air they breathe, is smoking cigarettes suddenly considered to be cool again?
ReplyDeleteYou can't sell liquor next to a church, but smokes has no limitations.
ReplyDeleteMost people that are smoking, are smoking pot.
ReplyDeleteall these spots are just place holders for cannabis legalization though seems as if some are not even place holders and are actually in that business already
ReplyDeletenew convenience store which looks a lot like one of these coming on 7th and A near pyramid :-|
ReplyDeletereally? enough smoke shops ffs.
ReplyDeleteAs a child of two chain smokers, all I can think is, Cancer sticks.
ReplyDelete@Giovanni, there's an article in today's NY Times about the uptick in smoking among 20-somethings, which also mentions how people who quit have resumed thanks to the various and ongoing stresses of the pandemic. So you pegged it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the NY Times article. It seems like smoking cigarettes really is a thing for 20 somethings after all. Apparently a big part of it is that the outdoor dining sheds have made it easier to smoke socially. Another part is a new kind of fatalism that has come from the pandemic: if the sky is falling, why bother taking care of yourself? This except sums it up:
ReplyDeletevia the Ny Times:
"While some smokers attest to choosing cigs over vapes for health reasons, others say that the choice is a much more classic one, loath as they may be to admit it: It looks and feels cool.
“It’s just a cool thing,” Ms. Frey said. “It sounds lame to say that. I think of hot guys that I’m into, and they’re like, ‘I’m going to step out and have a cigarette.’ It’s kind of sophisticated. Grunge sophisticated.”
And of course, part of that is your online image. “People are posting outside of a cool place, smoking with their friend, outside of cool dive bars,” Ms. Frey said. For her, like many of her generation, this aspect sounds familiar: “Smoking is part of being seen, and I think people want to be seen right now.”
For Fernanda Amis, 25, a waitress and actress who took up smoking at N.Y.U., it’s also a family affair. Her father, the writer Martin Amis, a lifelong smoker often photographed with a cigarette, has said they are one of his favorite things.
“Beautiful people do it, really talented people do it,” said Ms. Amis, who lives on the Lower East Side. “It goes with things that I admire.” In fact, back in college, she wrote a little manifesto about smoking titled “Notes of a Neo-smoker,” which included missives like: “Smoking is the epitome of masochism,” and “It is a joy to be contemporarily atypical.”
There were so many idiotic quotes from that NYT article, me and my wife couldn't help but to laugh out loud multiple times. I'm afraid this generation is doomed, and not just from external causes. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteThese people quoted are ridiculous. I think a LOT of it has to do with this Gen-Z, 90's obsessed trend shit. All these corny trend people who so obviously are basically in costumes in their personalities and clothing. It just goes along with the vibe and feeling of that trend. Pretty sad.
ReplyDelete