<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div>Courtesy of today's (April 29, 2017) Spokesman-Review.</div><div><br></div><div>---------------------------------</div><div><br></div><div><div><h1 class="f2 f1-l serif mt0 mb2" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 3rem; margin: 0px 0px 0.5rem; font-family: georgia, times, serif; line-height: 1.1; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-feature-settings: 'liga' 1, 'dlig' 1; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">‘Head shops’ seeing greater competition</h1></div><div><br></div><div>Time was, you could look in the Spokane phone book and see listings for a couple dozen ‘head shops.’</div><div><br></div><div>These days, what with the proliferation of legalized cannabis retail stores, places to purchase your pipes, rolling papers, ashtrays and other tools and accessories are less common.</div><div><br></div><div>Oh, you can still find them.</div><div><br></div><div>You know the kinds of stores: places where, to the strains of a reggae tune, you can find an array of pipes, bongs and various other types of drug-culture merchandise – accompanied by signs declaring</div><div><br></div><div>“These products are intended for tobacco use only.”</div><div><br></div><div>Those signs are important because, as Renee Salib said, even head shops – which do NOT sell cannabis – have to abide by the same laws that apply to tobacco sales.</div><div>“We operate under the Washington State tobacco laws,” said Salib, owner of Zanies, a retailer that has done business in different locations around Spokane since 1972. “Federally speaking, marijuana is still illegal. We’ve been around that block a lot of times. We operate in compliance with them. Anything we sell is for legal purposes only.”</div><div><br></div><div>Of course – wink-wink – what you, the consumer, choose to pack into, say, a recently purchased hand-made, glass-blown pipe is your own concern.</div><div><br></div><div>Stepping into either Zanies location, whether in Spokane Valley or just off Northwest Boulevard, is like making a trek back in time.</div><div><br></div><div>The North Side site in particular feels like something out of the movie “Woodstock,” with the permeating smell of incense, racks of tie-dyed T-shirts, banner-lined walls and shelves featuring “one-of-a-kind” glassware.</div><div><br></div><div>“We just don’t have our long hair anymore,” said Bob Salib, Renee’s husband.</div><div><br></div><div>Bob laughs as he says this, but when addressing pretty much everything else concerning their business he and Renee are perfectly serious.</div><div><br></div><div>In the course of talking about marijuana legislation, and how state (not to mention federal) officials are making a mistake by not promoting even more extensive use of cannabis products, the couple makes a surprising disclosure: marijuana legalization hasn’t helped their business.</div><div><br></div><div>“Actually, our business has shrunk,” Renee said. The reason: “Simply because there’s so much more competition.”</div><div><br></div><div>That competition, she says, comes only partly from the 33 retailers doing business in Spokane County.</div><div><br></div><div>State laws restrict what kind of merchandise those retail outlets can carry. Some do carry pipes, but most focus more on cannabis products.</div><div><br></div><div>“They can’t even sell incense,” Renee said.</div><div><br></div><div>The competition Zanies faces comes more from specialty national stores such as Spencer’s, which offers a range of party accessories and supplies, and larger retailers. Wal-Mart, for example, sells lava lamps for less than what the Salibs can buy them for at wholesale prices.</div><div><br></div><div>So, Renee says, like other old-school head shops across the state, they’ve had to diversify. It offers more choices in incense, clothing, and glassware. Zanies sells hand-blown glass made by local artist Robbie Mosher, who makes everything from pipes to figurines.</div><div><br></div><div>Spokane-area shoppers also can find similar types of products at Peace of Mind, which has four local locations along with shops in Alaska, California, Montana and Oregon.</div><div><br></div><div>The Zanies team says with all the competition, pleasing customers needs to come first.</div><div><br></div><div>“Our main focus has always been customer service,” Renee said. “We’re your one-stop hippie shop.”</div><div><br></div><div>This attitude and being able to adapt to an ever-changing marketplace has allowed Zanies to keep alive a business that began when Renee’s mother and stepfather, Lynn and John Woods, invested $500 to open the original store at the intersection of Division and Buckeye streets.</div><div><br></div><div>“We’re the third generation serving four generations now,” Renee says. “If you wrap your head around that, I’ve got people bringing in their grandkids who knew my mother 40 years ago.”</div><div><br></div><div>Some people clearly can’t own enough tie-dyed T-shirts. Wink-wink.</div><div><br></div><div>----------------</div><div><br></div><div><div><h2 style="text-align: start; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; font-feature-settings: 'liga' 1, 'dlig' 1; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.3125rem;"><font size="3"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Wondering where to stock up on your smoking accessories? Try these options.</span></font></h2></div><div><br></div><div>Piece of Mind locations are at 9003 N. Division, 4103 N. Division and 2910 E. 29th Avenue in Spokane and120101 E. 1st Avenue in Spokane Valley.</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.pieceofmind.net/">www.pieceofmind.net/</a> </div><div><br></div><div>Zanies locations are at 12928 E. Indiana Avenue in Spokane Valley and 1214 W. Knox Avenue in Spokane. <a href="http://www.spokanezanies.com/">www.spokanezanies.com/</a> Sedated Smoke Shop,1228 W Northwest Blvd Suite A, Spokane, WA 99205.</div></div></div><div><br></div><div>---------------------------------<br><br><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div> </div></div></div></body></html>