Richmond-based Avail Vapor opens 50th store

Published September 16, 2015 by Robert Powell, III

Richmond-based Avail Vapor, a retailer of electronic cigarette devices and liquids, has opened its 50th store.

The rapidly growing company, founded in 2013, plans to have 80 stores by the end of the year.

The store in Nashville represents the company’s sixth in Tennessee. The other stores in the state include: two in Chattanooga, and one each in Johnston City, Hixon and Kingsport.

Three additional Tennessee stores — in Antioch, Smyrna and Murfreesboro — are expected to open in the next 30 days.

“Tennessee has been a wonderful market for us,” Jame Xu, Avail’s founder and partner, said in a statement.

Electronic cigarettes create water vapor instead of smoke by heating a liquid containing nicotine. Use of e-cigarettes is called “vaping.”

Avail stores are in Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina in addition to Tennessee.