Parents' outrage over vape and sweet shop set up near secondary school

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Parents have reacted with horror to the opening of a “vapes and candy” shop just around the corner from a high school.The store, painted pink, was slammed as a “disgrace” and an “embarrassment” by locals in Denny.Formerly just a vape shop, the storefront sign now reads “Hayz Vape/Hayz Candy” with a teddy bear logo in the middle.It is located at a busy crossroads en route to the local high school – about a 10-minute walk up the road for schoolkids.One parent told our sister paper, the Daily Record: “It is also next door to the ‘candied’ ice cream shop.“I find it a disgrace our local council would allow vape shops to open so close to a school, and to advertise and sell sweets in the same premises is disgusting.“How can we prevent young people taking up smoking vapes if we are encouraging them into these brightly-coloured sweet shops on the way to school?”They added: “The town is already littered with rubbish and vapes are discarded all around the streets and pathways to and from the high school...

it is such an embarrassment to the town.”Falkirk Council chiefs stressed there was nothing illegal about the branding of the store which used to be a betting shop.

But campaigners and politicians hit out at the “disturbing” findings amid growing alarm over the widespread use of vaping products among kids, including on school premises.Recent statistics show one in 10 15-year-old Scots admits to regularly vaping – up from three per cent a few years ago.Social media posts from the Denny business include promotional images of a “chew vape” surrounded by chewy sweets.Other updates include encouraging the use of GoHenry cards – pre-paid debit cards available for youngsters aged six to 18.Despite the store selling both vapes and sweets,