The Smoke / Vape Shop

How these numbers were built: owner earnings, sale prices, multiples and median revenue come from BizBuySell’s smoke shop valuation benchmarks (businesses sold 2021 to 2025), and gross margin and pre-tax net profit from BizBuySell’s revenue and profit benchmarks; category margins from Cigars POS; the opening cost from the itemized opening kit, priced from store fixture dealers, ID scanner makers, a smoke shop franchise’s Item 7 and vape shop cost guides; license fees from the Texas Comptroller, California’s CDTFA and a compiled list of California city and county fees; age and ID rules from the FDA; the authorized product count from NACS; SBA eligibility from a law firm’s reading of SBA SOP 50 10 8; and survival rates from BLS Business Employment Dynamics. BizBuySell’s shops are mostly owner-operated, so the model’s default, which pays staff for most floor hours, starts in the lower part of their owner earnings range. Labor, compliance cost and average ticket remain planning estimates. Rules and fees change often; replace these with your state’s and your shop’s real numbers. Figures are current as of 2025-2026.

The owner cash flow (SDE) band and performance tiers come from BizBuySell’s smoke shop benchmarks for businesses sold 2021 to 2025 (median 23.8% of revenue, 15.7% to 26.1% by year); the earlier 10-20% band was a net margin and has been replaced. Category margins and the cost of goods and gross margin ranges rest on Cigars POS, a smoke shop POS vendor, corroborated by BizBuySell’s 40% gross margin for smoke shops. Labor, compliance cost, average ticket and sales per square foot are planning estimates with no public benchmark, so overall confidence stays estimated.