Touchy subject: Your local B&M and their attitude towards online competition.
Bob_Luken
Posts: 10,710 ✭✭✭✭✭
Saw a sign posted at my local B&M while I was there smoking last Saturday.
I was there to look for some sticks I needed for the group review threads. I had just purchased a handful of cigars and was smoking in the small lounge area up front. I then noticed a sign printed out on a standard 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper. If I remember it correctly it read,
"If you bought your cigars on the internet, you should go smoke them on the internet."
I took it to mean that their smoking area is for customers only. No problem. I buy there and smoke there occasionally. And I know that one of the general rules of cigar etiquette is that "if you smoke there, you should buy something there" and, I wouldn't feel right about walking in with a ccom house blend and firing it up, even if I had made a purchase there.
I've never met the owner but I have mentioned to his employees that some of my cigar buys are online purchases and that I used to live in the boonies and they didn't freak out. Neither did they disparage online sales, however, this is the first time I had noticed the sign, I'm pretty sure it's new. (Just to be clear, I do not feel like the sign was directed at me specifically.)
And, I'm not sayin' that I think the sign was all that rude but, I have heard of rude jerk responses from shopkeepers/owners when the subject of online cigar sales comes up. I understand how they can feel like the online retailers have unfair advantages but, they should be able to handle reality without being rude jerks, right?
While I'm at the B&M I won't intentionally mention the subject in the future unless someone else brings it up because I don't want to upset anyone or get myself banned from the shop. LOL Remember the Soup **** on Seinfeld?
What has been your experiences with shopkeepers, and shop owners at B&Ms and their attitude or actions towards the online competition?
Do you think they have a right to be overtly negative?
I was there to look for some sticks I needed for the group review threads. I had just purchased a handful of cigars and was smoking in the small lounge area up front. I then noticed a sign printed out on a standard 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper. If I remember it correctly it read,
"If you bought your cigars on the internet, you should go smoke them on the internet."
I took it to mean that their smoking area is for customers only. No problem. I buy there and smoke there occasionally. And I know that one of the general rules of cigar etiquette is that "if you smoke there, you should buy something there" and, I wouldn't feel right about walking in with a ccom house blend and firing it up, even if I had made a purchase there.
I've never met the owner but I have mentioned to his employees that some of my cigar buys are online purchases and that I used to live in the boonies and they didn't freak out. Neither did they disparage online sales, however, this is the first time I had noticed the sign, I'm pretty sure it's new. (Just to be clear, I do not feel like the sign was directed at me specifically.)
And, I'm not sayin' that I think the sign was all that rude but, I have heard of rude jerk responses from shopkeepers/owners when the subject of online cigar sales comes up. I understand how they can feel like the online retailers have unfair advantages but, they should be able to handle reality without being rude jerks, right?
While I'm at the B&M I won't intentionally mention the subject in the future unless someone else brings it up because I don't want to upset anyone or get myself banned from the shop. LOL Remember the Soup **** on Seinfeld?
What has been your experiences with shopkeepers, and shop owners at B&Ms and their attitude or actions towards the online competition?
Do you think they have a right to be overtly negative?
1
Comments
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I openly talk about my online purchases with the B&M that I frequent and with the owner. I even discuss prices with them. Granted, their humi is not the largest walk in in town so the selection is not always the greatest. I do buy enough from there that she allows me to bring in outside cigars. 92.5% of the time I will buy one if I bring one in. I was always told that as long as I am drinking, I am all good. I don't feel bad about it at all. This was the precedent that was set. I even will drop a stick for her to try if I feel she would like it.
The other B&M that I used to go to has a much better selection and a crappy bar. There it is you must buy one to smoke one. I think if I told them when purchasing a cigar that I was smoking another while there they would be fine with it. Just as long as I was buying something from them. Cigar sales are the #1 money maker there and not the bar.
Life is too short to smoke bad cigars!!!
Oh when the Blues, Oh when the Blues, Oh when the Blues go marching in!
"I've got a great cigar collection - it's actually not a collection, because that would imply I wasn't going to smoke ever last one of 'em." - Ron White
I can mildly understand their B&M's desire to disparage the online competition--the store owner feels like he/she is getting a smaller slice of the pie. I feel they shouldn't be whiny about it. They need to innovate somehow to pick up the slack. Most successful storefronts I know (across several types of industry) also do online sales. E-commerce helps broaden their customer reach.
My local B&M doesn't have a lounge (have to go to SLC or Vegas for that), but I would do the same method as you--buy there/smoke there. Hell, I would even say carry a case of some sort and smoke the equivalent number of sticks to what you buy. If you go kuzi etiquette style, remove the band and if the wrapper/vitola are close enough the owner will be none the wiser.
-Jay
Did not go back for months. When I did it was for a handful of singles and I let him know that if I found one I liked I would purchase a box off the internet.
I think it is time to go again. Shame really, I was going to his shop every payday and spending at least $100.
I like Oliva and Quesada (including Regius) a lot. I will smoke anything, though.
Owners who pretend the Internet doesn't exist or that you are a cheater if you buy off of the Internet are idiots. If I upset a shop owner or employee by mentioning online sales, then I honestly would not care and probably would not go back.
A good shop owner, upon hearing about a cigar that you like and that they do not sale, would offer to find it for you or at least make a recommendation based on what they have.
Lots of the really good shops have their own websites anyway.
-- Winston Churchill
"LET'S GO FRANCIS" Peter
None of the owners or employees has ever looked to see what people are smoking though, and don't think they care all that much as long as you buy something.
As for that sign at my specific local shop, I'll have to go back and re-read the sign to get the exact wording confirmed. You can interpret the sign in different ways and the exact wording can make all the difference. I'll take a picture. Plus, I'll ask them what the sign means. If the sign's intent was to highlight their policy to mean, "No outside smokes without purchase", that's reasonable. If the signs intent was to say, No outside smokes, period." OK, I can abide by that too but, If the sign's intent was to say, "If you shop online you aren't welcome here", well, now they just don't want my business.
You catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
I really do feel kinda bad for the B&M, because he can't compete with online retailers when it comes to in-state sales because the excise tax on cigars is 40%.
I like Oliva and Quesada (including Regius) a lot. I will smoke anything, though.
And what about Ramon Bueso's cigars?
Or for example, the Mario Palomino's that came back for a little bit. I believe it was ccom who pushed to bring it back and so it really only was offered online.
I like Oliva and Quesada (including Regius) a lot. I will smoke anything, though.