Vape shops: how do they all make it?

There are so many vape/cbd/thc shops, and more seem to opening daily. I don’t have a problem with them, but how in the world do they make it? As someone who has owned a small business, it just doesn’t make sense.

They are often located in some of the best retail locations, which has to be expensive. And I almost never see cars or customers at any of them. And everyone I know who vapes just buys at a gas station.

Is it really that lucrative? Is it just money laundering? Genuinely curious. Houston seems to have way more than any city I’ve been to in the last few years.