Business Spotlight: All-new Hot Spot Smoke Shop specializes in quality

Legalization of recreational marijuana in Nevada last fall has brought forth new entrepreneurial opportunities in the Silver State since the first of the year.

Carson City is no exception.

Local residents Vincent and Deanna Congiusti decided to get in on the budding industry by opening up The Hot Spot Smoke Shop at the corner of Saliman Road and Fairview Drive.

"We got the itch to open up a shop of our own," Vincent Congiusti said. "We had been seeing them opening and the way things are progressing right now, it ought to be the perfect time."

Vincent works full-time as a journeyman electrician, his trade for more than a decade, while Deanna owns a salon in Carson City.

Oftentimes there isn't enough hours in a day to do it all, Vincent said, but becoming an integral part of the community in which the Congiustis live is important to them.

"If we had thirty-six hour days, we'd be good," Vincent joked, adding that he and Deanna juggle time between their other careers to run The Hot Spot, because helping out the local community is a passion that they share.

"Our biggest thing is helping local people," Vincent said. "Who are we without them? We don't function without the community."

This includes helping out local glass blowers who are producing marijuana concentrate devices.

"We try to stay local," he said. "A lot of our glass is local, coming out of Reno and South Lake Tahoe."

Congiusti said local glass blowers add their own signatures and creative flair to the devices sold at the The Hot Spot, giving these products distinctive looks that are as unique as they are definitive of the industry.

"It's really an artistic thing, the way some of these guys do it," he said. "That's why we have the television in here, too, because we want people to see why some of these pieces are so unique."

The Hot Spot may specialize in carrying high-end glass products, Congiusti said, but customers know they are getting what they pay for.

"We sell top of the line glass products here," he said, noting that the items are made by some of America's top 25 best glass artists. "I don't hustle product. Everything I have here is high grade and they sell themselves."

What makes this glass so special? Congiusti said it's all in the ingredients blowers use.

And the presentation of these products is uncanny, he said.

"We have things like ground up opal stones in some of our products, where you can actually see them and they just really make the pieces look beautiful," he said.

The Hot Spot is all about quality, Vincent said, and the integrity of marijuana products sold through the store.

"What we are trying to incorporate into the business is the CBD side of it," he said. "The CBD side is really what we like."

CBD, or cannabidiol, is the chemical compound found inside the marijuana plant that has shown to have medicinal benefits for certain health conditions.

Congiusti said CBD does not contain the psychoactive qualities of THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, the more potent of the two chemical compounds found in marijuana.

"CBD is all just the medical benefit from [marijuana]," he said.

The CBD oil that forms the basis of marijuana concentrate products is a sought-after alternative to traditional pharmaceutical medications.

"When the older generation comes in here, they want to get away from the Advils, Alleves and ibuprofens, and all the pills that they are taking," Congiusti said. "We can help people get off the pills."

The Hot Spot sells CBD oil concentrates as syrups, capsules, or gummies for ease of consumption, he said.

"We are truly here for our customers," Congiusti said. "I don't want them to leave because I sold them on something. I want them to leave because the product sold them. I want them to leave happy."

Open since April, The Hot Spot also carries a clothing line by local t-shirt maker Josh Berry, who features his Bossta Nation brand inside the 800 square-foot retail store.

Congiusti said Berry has been an important part of The Hot Spot team, handling the marketing demands required of a brand new retail venture.

In fact, the swift four-week remodel of the 1,200 square-foot operation is credited in part to the help the Congiustis received from others in the community.

"Staying local is important, because they have helped us," he said. "We've had people take time out of their busy days to come help us. It's been a lot of community people spreading the word."

The Hot Spot celebrates its grand opening July 1 with on-site glass blowing demonstrations, Rollin' Pizza Pies food truck, and live DJ music, Congiusti said, along with raffles, hand-outs and free prizes.

Starting at 10 a.m. Saturday, The Hot Spot will be open until late that night, Congiusti said.

"If people are here, we're not closing," he said.

The Hot Spot, located at 1501 Fairview Drive, Suite 16, is typically open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Hours of operation will be daily, seven days a week as of the July 1 grand opening, Congiusti said.

For more information about The Hot Spot smoke shop, call the store at 775-461-3888 or visit its web site here. Find The Hot Spot on Facebook here.