Eighty people in a school community are protesting against a new vape shop setting up near the school gate.
The shop is opposite Parakai School, near Helensville in west Auckland.
Cabinet will make a decision around the sale of vapes later this month, with the banning of shops near schools being discussed.
But existing ones could remain - and some got a licence before the rules changed. Now the government's being urged to tighten the laws further.
The school community has become concerned about the new Parakai shop and pushed back. Outside the store, dozens of parents and activists joined the Vape-free Kids group on Tuesday in protesting it opening.
At the protest was a petition calling for loopholes to be closed, which about 80 people signed. They were worried about how close a new vape shop was to their local primary school.
"Everyone has their own choice, adults can choose how to smoke," father of two children at Pakarai School, Leon England said.
"Just the location of it, right next to where we wait for our kids, it's just too much - too close."
Another parent of students at the school said her two children walk to and from school regularly and would pass by the store.
"They're already having troubles with being peered into vaping at school, let alone having it advertised in their face every morning," she said.
The shop was set up effectively on the doorstep of Parakai School, which was a primary school for children up to year eight - or 12-year-olds.
Principal Yolanda Choromanski said the choice of location for the store was upsetting.
"I feel pretty disappointed morally that you have people who are prepared to sneak in, know what it's doing to our children, and go ahead with it."
Choromanski said conversations had been in the works with the landlord and business owner to have something done about it.
"[We] asked them, 'have you done any research? Do you know anything about it?' And their answer was no."
The new rules for vape shops ban disposable vapes, which have become popular for young people. New shops would be unable to open within 300 metres of schools and marae.
But some, like the one here in Parakai, have already been given the go ahead to open.
Tammy Downer chaired the school board and organised the protest. The proximity of the store was worrying, she said.
"A specialty vape store can sell any flavour under the sun. Those flavours... we know they're appealing to children - potentially designed to [be].
"We have lots of challenges with vaping in our school and in the community already, and this can only make it worse," Downer said.
Younger generations were especially vulnerable to the harms of vaping, she said.
"Vaping and the nicotine that comes along with it is way more sensitive to their brains than even an adults.
"It impacts things like learning, their attention, their memory, all of those things which are affecting the way they are able to learn at school."
'There's too many vape shops around'
Some retailers were making the most of the period before the new rules came into effect today.
Under the new rules, two vape shops in Ōtāhuhu would not be legal - Value Vaper and IQ Vape - because they sat 300 meters from Ōtāhuhu Primary School. But since they were already there, they were allowed to stay.
This would apply to two other stores in the immediate walking vicinity of the same school. Allowing them to stay had been the catalyst for Vape Free Kids taking action.
The organisation said dairies and supermarkets should also be banned from selling vapes right next to schools.
Some residents in Ōtāhuhu agreed vapes were too easy to come by.
"They're just children, man, there's too many vape shops around . . . on this street here along there are four, five vape shops," one person said.
"Vaping at all I don't agree 100 percent, it's ruined the community," another said.
A third said youth vaping was because of peer pressure.
"It's like drinking back in the old days, 'come and have a beer mate,' sort of thing. But now it's 'come and have a vape'."
Vape Villa owner Hemant Jadhav said the reason behind the decision to put the store near the school was a matter of convenience.
"First of all it is very close to my liquor store, second thing is that it is the only shopping centre in the town."
Jadhav said after meeting with the principal he had agreed to change the name of the shop and put film over the windows so kids could not see in.
"I am not telling people to go buy vape," he said.
"I'm not putting any specials or anything and standing out with a banner saying 'come and grab it.'"
Vape Free Kids NZ will present their petition to Parliament in the next few weeks calling for loopholes to be closed and laws to be tightened around the selling of vapes.
It hoped that it would eventually stop the selling of vapes around schools, like Parakai's Vape Villa..
