Beyond Vape, a national chain of electronic cigarette retailers, is eyeing the former Hyperoptics space at 1463 Haight St. for a new retail location.
The retailer, which has corporate offices based in Baldwin Park, CA, already has two locations in California and a total of 13 locations nationwide, mostly in New York City but also in Seattle and Boston.
"We are beginning the very early stages of developing a Beyond Vape store in San Francisco," said Dylan Sambuceti, Beyond Vape's retail development project manager. "While I cannot comment on our specific methodology of site selection, I will tell you that we have had our eyes on San Francisco for a long time. We aim to position ourselves as the source for premium vaping needs and no national retail presence is without an outlet in San Francisco."
Because of the number of locations Beyond Vape owns, it falls under the "formula retail" law established for San Francisco businesses, and will have to seek conditional-use authorization to open up shop. Sambuceti noted "the nature of development in San Francisco," saying that there are still many bumps in the road that could set Beyond Vape's plans off-course.
As a preliminary component of the permitting process, Beyond Vape will host a pre-application meeting, open to the public, at 1463 Haight St. at 6pm on Monday, October 12th.
