Crazy J’s, one of Conway’s oldest smoke and vape shops located at 2625 Donaghey Ave., hosted a day of sales and giveaways on April 20 to commemorate 4/20, the counterculture holiday celebrating the consumption and legalization of cannabis.

“We’ve got storewide discounts, different discounts for different types of products. We have a young lady here collecting signatures for the medical marijuana amendment, trying to get that on the ballot,” said Ben Freeman, general manager at Crazy J’s. 

Starting at noon, employees also gave out free hot dogs and burgers to customers “until the last dog’s gone,” Freeman said. “Comes with a can of soda and a bag of chips.”

“We’ve got the T-shirt pop-up,” Freeman said. “People can come in, pay 20 bucks and get a basically custom shirt.”

B&E Decals N More, a local printing and design company, operated the pop-up and had a variety of 420-themed designs customers could choose from. After picking a design and paying customers could watch as their shirt was printed in front of them.

“We’ve made a whole bunch [of shirts] and gave away a whole bunch today,” said James Phillips, owner of B&E. “A whole bunch of people came for that.” 

Crazy J’s also had a sales representative from Mellow Fellow, a producer of Delta-8-THC and other cannabinoid products based in Florida, in the store giving free samples and deals on products.

In addition to the T-shirts and free food, Crazy J’s had raffle drawings for several giveaways. Customers could win products from the store, a gift card or $420 in cash, with the winners’ names pulled at 4:20 p.m.

“I don’t know of any other store doing giveaways as awesome as ours or any at all,” Freeman said. “That’s something that’s been kind of a staple in our 4/20 events for the past 13 years.” 

Freeman said they’ve done the cash giveaway every year on 4/20 since they opened.

“That right there outdoes at least 95% of other stores I know of,” Freeman said. 

Jacob Glover, who has been a Crazy J’s employee since the store first opened, said the COVID-19 affected the turnout at the 4/20 events.

“It’s been crazy ever since we opened,” Glover said. “Before COVID, it was bigger and bigger every year. And then COVID hit. We’re just starting to get back to our big events again.” 

Freeman said Crazy J’s knowledgeable employees, loyal customer base and exclusive perks like its point-based rewards program have helped it stay competitive with the large number of other smoke and vape stores that have opened in Conway in the past few years. 

Freeman said customers come from “as far as Heber [Springs] or Cabot just because this is their favorite spot.”

“They know they can come here for either the knowledge they’re looking for or the quality that they’re looking for,” Freeman said.

Crazy J’s also offers glassware from local Arkansas glassblowers. 

“For the most part, glass has slowed down in the past couple of years because of all the electronic options,” Freeman said. “So it’s been a little bit touch-and-go, especially with the amount of other competing shops that have popped up in the past year or two, but we still have great relationships with all of our Arkansas glassblowers.

“When it comes to our Arkansas glass, it’s very personal,” Freeman said. “They [local glassblowers] come in and I pick out from their collection what I think would do well.”

Crazy J’s is open seven days a week for customers 21 years and older.