THE PERFECT RETAILER, REVISITED (Published in CigarCyclopedia.com)

What to look for in your favorite shop, or if you’re going to open one!

Los Angeles, March 1 – We get a lot of questions from readers who are interested in opening a cigar shop. Aside from the simple competitive issues of selling enough cigars and other stuff to make a living, there are plenty of legal and administrative hoops to jump through, not to mention that tobacco products are not up there with Mom and Apple Pie with the American public at present.

Nevertheless, the interest is there. We wrote about what would make the “perfect retailer” back in October 2004 and rather than simply re-write that column, here it is. We’ve added some comments in brackets ([]) to update the story to today:

THE PERFECT RETAILER, PART I

(October 13, 2004) Discussions with sales reps of the big cigar companies inevitably turn to stories about their favorite – or least favorite – retailers. The good stores, the bad ones, the long-time friends and the cheats.

Lately, with the anti-tobacco forces leading the charge against smoking in many public places, the tobacco shop is becoming more important than ever as a refuge as well as a place to buy cigars and accessories.

So what would make up the perfect retail tobacco shop?

How about these 10 elements:

• Naturally, there should be a variety of cigars: mild, medium and full-bodied styles from the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua and elsewhere. But the line-up should feature both the standard brands and boutique brands that are less well known, but are worth discovering. Examples: Helix (natural wrapper) and Moore & Bode in the mild category and Cupido and Industrial Press [both now discontinued] in the medium-bodied category.

• A one-page guide to the cigar selection, not just to list the brands, but what categories they cover and the retailer’s take on what’s best in the humidor this week. If the idea of highlighting one brand over another makes you shiver, many manufacturers provide “shelf talkers” which give highlights on their brands and give the visitor a better idea about specific cigars they may not be familiar with.

• A list of cigars known to be coming to the store, with due dates if available. One great promotion we heard about was for the launch of the Tabacalera A. Fuente-made Diamond Crown line in Southern California in 1996. One retailer put up signs in his window and at the register that customers could buy be among the first to buy a Diamond Crown if they came to the store at midnight on a certain date.

At the stroke of midnight, the line was more than 20 deep to get into the store, with more coming, to be able to buy two Diamond Crown cigars as long as the stock held out. Every box was sold out before the morning light.

• Offer a customer want list for cigars. It’s easy enough to acquire most brands (not including the riot-inducing lines like Fuente Fuente Opus X or the Padron 30 Aniversarios) and having a friendly, prearranged procedure for letting customers order what they want if outside your normal lines can build new customer relationships. Such lists should require a deposit if for a box of cigars; some retailers hold credit cards on file for their best customers to allow them to get their cigars reserved first upon arrival.

• A smoking area or lounge inside the store, or on an outdoor patio adjacent. Thanks to the anti-smoking crowd and the variety of laws which have sprung up in some states and cities, tobacco shops are often the last place people can smoke (some laws even ban smoking in tobacco shops, which is often ignored, but still illegal!).

How large the lounge and how well appointed is a function of space and money available (one word of advice: Ikea). But as shops become more popular as “smoke stops” with customers who can no longer smoke in restaurants, bars and other locations, the opportunity to keep the customer inside the store can lead to more smoker satisfaction and more business for the store (remember that one-page guide to specials mentioned above?).

• Aggressively invite manufacturers and specialists to the store for tastings and promotions. General Cigar has so many programs for its Macanudo, Partagas and Punch brands your head starts to spin. Altadis USA has a new program for its Montecristo Platinum brand. And other makers are interested, but don’t have the muscle of those two and you have to ask them.

But makers and distributors are interested in getting their cigars into people’s hands (and mouths) and a few calls will turn up enough interest to bring your customers to the store for a special program once a month.

Naturally, most manufacturers offer special discounts on boxes of their cigars during tastings, so there’s an extra benefit for your customers.

• The natural extension of the lounge area and tastings program is the use of part or all of the store for special events. New York and New England stores would likely do very well with a promotion to watch the Yankees and Red Sox battle for the American League pennant in-store this week. Or the World Series, Super Bowl, college bowl games, NCAA Final Four and so on.

Charge a fee, get a restaurant and/or a brewer or winery involved and have your customers make a day of it. The fee can include 2-3 cigars and some makers will even create souvenir labels or imprinted cellophane wrappers if you order far enough in advance.

These kinds of events, too seldom seen today, make the store a gathering place for the extended neighborhood of smokers and their friends. In the right situation, the cigar store replaces the coffee house or barbershop for the cigar-friendly set.

• The “Cigar Club.” Many were started – and many were closed – during the Cigar Boom of the late 1990s. But some have survived and thrived, such as Club Macanudo in New York and the Grand Havana Rooms in Beverly Hills, New York and elsewhere.

Both of these combine fine dining with cigars, but have special accommodations for those wishing to obtain a higher level of service for their smoking needs. Of course, there is a fee involved.

At Club Macanudo, individual lockers – if available – are offered at $700 annually. At the Grand Havana Room in Beverly Hills, there’s a long waiting list and substantial initiation fee, plus a $200 per month charge, similar to the fee structure in most private clubs in the area.

What about in a cigar store? Whether modest or palatial, they need to offer:

> Reserved, humidified locker spaces with key or dial-lock access;

> First opportunity to buy at all sales events or special promotions on merchandise;

> First opportunity to buy hard-to-get cigars which come into the store;

> Charge accounts for purchases against a credit card on file;

> First opportunity to reserve places at all store samplings and events;

> Recognition – by name – in the store on a membership bulletin board.