Juul Labs Eyes Opening Retail Locations

SAN FRANCISCO — Months after pulling its flavored products from retail outlets, Juul Labs is reportedly considering entering the brick-and-mortar operations for itself.

If the San Francisco-based vapor company moves forward with the plans, the first adult-only store would o pen in Texas, according to a report by CNBC.

However, the company has not made a formal decision yet, a person familiar with the situation told the news outlet.

Juul also plans to open a store in South Korea.

Opening is own stores would give Juul more control over the distribution and sale of its products at a time when the Food and Drug Administration is boosting its efforts to keep tobacco products — and notably vapor products — out of the hands of minors.  

Opening its own stores could allow Juul to monitor sales closely and test technology that could prevent minors from buying its products, CNBC noted.

According to the report, Juul's U.S. stores would not sell flavored cigarettes. It would only sell tobacco, mint and menthol flavored products.

Juul did not comment for the report.

In November, Juul announced it would stop selling its flavored Juul pods in more than 90,000 retail locations in a move to help prevent youth tobacco use, as Convenience Store News previously reported.

As a result, its flavored products — Cucumber, Mango, Creme and Fruit — are only available online. To place an online order, users are asked to provide their name, date of birth, permanent address and the last four digits of their social security number. The information is verified by a third party and cross-referenced with publicly available records to confirm the person is at least 21 years old.

If a user's public records fail to match or they do not wish to provide their social security number, they must upload a valid government-issued ID for review by a member of the company’s compliance team.

To prevent bulk shipments to those attempting to distribute to minors, online customers are strictly limited to two devices and 15 Juul pod packages per month, and no more than 10 devices per year.