Scottish vaping firm teams up with Morrisons to launch 10 new stores - including two in Scotland

The new in-store outlets will expand VPZ’s presence in communities throughout the UK, with seven key locations in Glenrothes, Peterhead, Leeds Hunslet, Birmingham Stirchley, Darlington, Stratford and Grantham. The collaboration will also introduce an innovative “mobile pod concept” for customer parking areas, with two planned for Nottingham and one in Rotherham.

VPZ bosses said the partnership would “drive positive change” by making stop-smoking services more accessible in communities throughout the country, while educating smokers on the benefits of more sustainable vaping products. The firm already has more than 150 stores across the UK.

Director Greig Fowler said: “Our partnership with Morrisons to open ten new stores is a pivotal step in our mission to transform the health of our nation by empowering more people to become smoke-free. I believe that together we will be making it easier for smokers to access the resources, help and education they need to quit smoking, while also offering a convenient and sustainable shopping experience.”

He added: “We are looking forward to launching our new in-store locations, pod concepts and exploring further growth in 2025.”

The capital-based retailer and manufacturer recently voiced concerns that the newly announced vape tax increase will unfairly impact the most vulnerable and set back the UK’s 2030 smoke-free targets.

News of the tie-up came as British American Tobacco (BAT) said it was on track to make more money from selling vapes in the second half of the financial year than the first. The smoking giant said in a trading update that it had about 40 per cent vaping market share across key markets like the US and the UK with its Vuse products.

Chief executive Tadeu Marroco said the company was making “further progress increasing profitability” across “new category” products. Analysts have projected total sales for the year to be down slightly on 2023, at £26.3 billion, while BAT’s Vype, Glo and Vuse vaping products should see sales rise about 9 per cent to £3.6bn.