(Updated at 12:30 p.m.) A new vape shop is set to open in the coming months in a prominent Courthouse storefront on Wilson Blvd.
“Tobacco Vape Cigars” is moving into the former home of SuperStar Tickets at 2305 Wilson Blvd, the very visible building at the corner of Wilson Blvd and N. Wayne Street.
Where there once was SuperStar Tickets’ name in black, there’s now a new white, red, and yellow declaring the business set to waft in soon. The shop is in the midst of a build-out and isn’t open yet, building owner Omar Sider told ARLnow, but it is expected to start selling in the coming months.
SuperStar Ticket hasn’t shuttered but simply no longer needs a prominent, large storefront due to employees now working remotely, Sider told ARLnow. He owns SuperStar Tickets as well as the building. He said the business is doing quite well, with some live events setting attendance records.
“Live events are bigger than ever,” Sider said. “Covid’s silver lining… is that it gave us a reset button to restructure.”
With no reason to work out of the building, leasing out the space provided a chance for cash flow. There was other interest in the building but the vape shop was able to move in immediately, Sider noted.
The shop owners own “60 or 70” other businesses across the country. The lease is for three years, though the business owners initially wanted a longer commitment.
“We will see how it goes. They are paying what we are asking,” Sider said. “And they were pretty adamant.”
Sider was born in Arlington and currently lives in the Woodmont neighborhood. He’s owned the building since 2010 and put it back on the market in 2017, though he never ended up selling it.
Sider understands why some would want a business besides a vape shop in that prominent storefront but, he says, the building sat unused essentially for the last three years.
“It has to have some cash flow,” Sider said. “At least for now, it will be [a vape shop], but maybe in a couple of years, we will think about building it out for something different in the community.”