USC Gamecocks Football
Clowney’s new business venture: vaping store, lounge in Columbia
Former South Carolina star Jadeveon Clowney is already planning his future after football with a new business venture.
He is an investor in KURE Vaporium, which will open in Columbia on Gervais Street later this month.
Clowney’s goal is to be a businessman, and this will be a great learning experience, said Marty Sumichrast, Chairman of KURE Corp., which is based in Charlotte.
Sumichrast said he has been a friend and confidante to Clowney since Clowney was a sophomore at South Pointe High in Rock Hill.
“This is like him sticking a little pinky into the water, to help him understand how a business works,” Sumichrast said.
Sumichrast said Clowney visited a vaping store in the Charlotte area and was interested because his mother is a smoker and he has been trying to get her to quit. But he felt like vaping, which features electronic cigarettes, might be better for her.
Clowney picked Columbia as the site of his first business venture, Sumichrast said, over potential stores in Rock Hill and Houston.
Clowney has been involved in the design of the store, and a line of products featuring him is being planned, Sumichrast said.
Other investors include Columbia attorney Bakari Sellers, who represented Bamberg, Barnwell and Colleton counties in the state House of Representatives from 2006 to 2014.
“It’s cool to be involved with him,” Sellers said of his association with Clowney. “A couple of young, African-American entrepreneurs – him from Rock Hill and me from Denmark.”
Sumichrast said Clowney “will learn how to be involved (in a business) and he’s got some personal interest. It’s a win-win.”
Clowney will be starting his third season with the Houston Texans in August. He holds USC’s single-season sack and tackles-for-loss records – 13 and 23.5 – both set in 2012. His first two seasons in the NFL have been hampered by injuries.
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