Locals living nearby to a newly opened vape shop are furious with its "highly offensive" name.
The new store, entitled The Vapeist, opened earlier this week.
After opening their doors in Cornwall, The Vapeist's owners have been met with major backlash by local residents for its name, with may raising concerns that it sounds like "rapist", The Daily Star reports.
Shop owners Anton Perrins, 34, and his cousin Chris Anderson, 31, have stated that they plan on sticking with the name and will prove to people that they are "good guys" despite the negative feedback.
Some living nearby to the store have warned that this is not good enough as they have raised the issue with their local council.
The cousins said that they meant no offence by the name and have forked out thousands renovating the building and buying branded supplies for the store.
Business owners Anton and Chris said that they took on the project of refurbishing the property as they wanted to invest in the town centre and revive similar unused buildings.
Anton also said they believe the imagination behind the controversial name was very just.
He said: "The truth is that people who vape are refereed to as 'vapeists'. It wasn't intended that way at all and it stunned us a little bit that people thought that.
"People were saying the name was made in bad taste, that it could be offensive and that there must have been better options.
"A few people have been less critical and said it wouldn’t be their name of choice but that's fine. Other people who do vape have turned around and said they haven’t got an issue with it and understand it.
"If you type it in Google it comes up and explains it’s a word used to describe people who vape.
"We were even more stunned when we found out that the council had given us a bit of a nudge and said there had been a complaint. They were not particularly bothered about it and said to us more out of courtesy to let us know.
"That’s when I tried to explain to people the best I could that it's really not how it sounds and I was quite amazed by how much local support we got telling us to ignore it."
After much negativity, the cousins considered closing the shop and moving to another town.
Anton added: "At the end of the day you could say it with anything like a cyclist or motorist.
"We really didn't want to upset anybody."
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