Area 51 Smoke Shop

I’ve been walking through the doors of smoke shops for about 15 years. Area 51 is by far the worst yet. I have purchased 3 pieces of glass from here. All 3 have broken within a week of purchase. I bought 2 slides with built in screens. The first one, the slide just suddenly broke as I was using it. There was no pressure or anything to cause this other than poor manufacturing. Same thing happened to the other one while simply cleaning with some luke warm water. The 3^rd piece was a stem piece that just randomly broke when pulling out the slide. Now its stuck in there rendering the tube useless. My final purchase there was the 2 slides, I was ripped off by some young kid who I had never seen working there. He over charged me by 30% and wouldn’t refund me. The person helping was also clueless as to what they where talking about. There are a lot of place’s in Rva for to purchase my glass and papers etc; I think I am going to have to take my business elsewhere.
Edit: It was NOT user error when it came to the glass breaking. I’ve been buying glass for 15 years and handle it gently. I look at it as an investment
–Overcharged me by 30% and denied a refund.
–No knowledge of the product being sold
–Extremely poor product
I think my money will be going towards other local smoke shops who supply a better piece of glass at a better price point.

As stated in other reviews «They scam customers who demonstrate a lack of knowledge about products. Do not trust this business.»
If I could give it 0 stars I would. Horrible customer service. I walked in, only 1 employee visible, another one smoking a cig right outside the door. No greetings (dudeman inside even looked straight at me and went right back to stocking inventory) no «how can we help you». 2 other stoners walk in 30 seconds after me and dudeman still takes a minute to get his bearings straight and walks right up to the other people and takes 10 minutes to help the stoners pick out a digital scale, (the one smoking a cig finally came back inside, sat on a chair and started reading hightimes) and when dudeman finally finishes with the stoners, he just starts stocking his inventory again, completely ignoring me again… Another employee finally walks out from the back and assists me with what I wanted to get (literally took 30 seconds b/​c I knew the exact item) and then they tried to overcharge me by 4x the amount… I ask for a manager and I’m replied with «there’s a lot of us», I let him know about the horrendous customer service (while dudeman was still stocking right next to the cash register) and complete silence, and once again I get completely blown off by the employees. Don’t go to this shop. let me reiterate DO NOT GO HERE… and especially if you are going in for vape stuff head down the street to a real vape shop that’s not overpriced.

I go in pretty regularly. The guys in the shop are helpful. Some are more helpful than others but I don’t feel like I have never been treated poorly in this store before. The business has grown and gone through some growing pains. There are some new staff and new supplies. I would recommend this place to anyone.

Overpriced! I have no idea how they stay in business with so many reasonably priced competitors less than 2 miles away.
I walked in and admitted that I was new too vaping and guess what, out comes the most expensive product they have! Might be cheaper to keep smoking based on how Area 51 explained things.
This is more like a bong store from back in the day with all the neon lighting. The vaping business looks like a side thought as every other person in there was buying a «tobacco» accessory.
No need for a repeat with so many other options right down the street.

Me and my boyfriend have been coming here lately for all out tobacco needs. Employees are very friendly, they know their tuff and I always walk out with what I initially set out to get. Unlike most places lile Kultures I always end up spending more than what I intended and walk out with something completely unessesary or that I didn’t want or when I get home it doesn’t work with what equipment I have. I recommend this place to all fellow smokers.

I was verbally abused by the salesman and when I asked for contact information of the owner so I could make a more formal complaint, he refused to give me accurate info. They scam customers who demonstrate a lack of knowledge about products. Do not trust this business.

When I entered the store, I explained to the owner, who greeted me, that I was brand new to vaping. He immediately tried to sell me the most expensive vape he had. I purchased one half that price. They came with no written instructions, and only the briefest oral overview of the product. Two days later I discovered I had somehow burned the battery out. Back in the store, he told me there was nothing he could do, but quickly added that he would SELL me the another for half price. When I told him that was unacceptable he pointed me to a small sign stating ‘no refunds’. This business cares nothing about customer satisfaction. The smirk on the owner’s face when I asked that the vape be repaired, replaced, or refunded was priceless. i would try any number of smoke shops before going into Area 51.

If you are new to, enjoy vaping, or just have a lot of questions, I would suggest paying this store a visit. The gentleman behind the counter has been more then helpful and courteous the two times my wife and I have stopped in. Their prices are resonable and the new e-​juice from vapeall they carry comes in 12 ml bottles for 8.99. They also carry the new GS-​H2 tanks. They are still a bit short on supplies, especially since they do not have any coils in stock yet. However, they have assured us that they are coming soon.