Inventory help!!!! (Long)

F

FrankB

Gorilla
Have been several posts about our local stores. If you have read mine you know am pretty dissatisfied with the local store. Update is that I found a tobacco,(cigarette) store with a built in humidor with a limited amount of facings. Met the owner, who has several tobacco outlets and who by his own admission knows very little about premium cigars, but basically has the attitude that if he is going to be in the cigar business, he is going to be in the cigar business. In our conversation he let it be known that the big shop has tried to buy him and that he turned them down. He has a good location in the most affluent part of town and understands that if he can get a grip on his product he can make a serious dent in the big boys business. Has asked me to help in providing an inventory. Has,at the moment, a limited amount of space, maybe 300 facings maxed out. I am trying to provide him with an educated, well reasoned selection that will cover a broad spectrum of the market, representing good value to some of the necessary high end cigars, and some of the under the radar winners we all have encountered. Remember the competion is somewhat elitist and tends to concentrate on the very high end cigars, Davidoff, Zino_Opus, Diamond Crown, Etc. Anybody up to the challenge of helping me in compiling a good sense list of cigars? Your help will be appreciated. Will keep yall posted with his progress. I intend to wrangle me a part time job there after He gets up and running. I only work 14 days a month in my real job. Frank B
 
Sounds like a great undertaking by your friend. I wish him and you the best of luck.

My choices for some of the brands that must be included:

Partagas Cifuentes
Partagas Black
Padron (the entire line)
Pedromo
La Gloria Cubana
Montecristo reg line
Montecristo Cigar D' Arts
Montecristo Afrique
HDM Excalibur lines
FDO
AVO
CAO Xtreme
CAO Italia
CAO Brazilia
Cuseta Rey
Ashton VSG's
ERDM
JDN
Punch
RyJ
The ENTIRE Fuente line :D
Trinidad
Carlos Torano (the entire line)
Series X

Just to name a few. I'm sure I'm forgetting a whole crapload of awesome lines.
 
Torano, Padron, CAO, LFD, JDN. SLR,

Montecristo, Macanudo, Punch, Partagas, R & J. Go heavy on the Punch and Partagas lines as they offer both big name and good cigars. Montes never got to me much and neither did Macanudos.

ERDM, Don Tomas seem to sell well, LGC Serie R, H Upmann, Oliva, Ashton, Gran Habano.

Then make sure to grab a couple lines of crap that says Habano Havana Cuba etc in the name. These are top sellers at one of the places I frequent.

Then some of the heavy hitters like the 26s/64s, DCMs, La Aurora 100 anos.

Im sure Im missing a bunch.
 
1) Sancho Panza
2) Flor de Oliva
3) Padron
4) Padron
5) La Finca Black Robusto
6) Punch Roth in Maduro
7) Mayorga
8)La Gloria Cubana
9) Camacho
10)Anything Fuente is preaty good.
11) Cuest-Rey
12) CAO Brazilia
13)Ashton VSG
14) HDM
15) R&J
16) Monte
17) ERDM
18) JDN
19) CAO Italia
20) HDM Excalibur

These are some good brands to start out with affordable and tastey, I hope this helps.

-Steve
 
Hey Brothers, appreciate the quick replies. Your lists are right on time. The shop has some of them, so they are headed in the right direction, but they could definitely benefit from yall's input. Keep 'em coming. Frank B
 
FrankB, what I've seen, most of the so called " clientele " that go to these Cigarette Outlets are young males looking for a pack of Malboro's and then maybe a Cheap Cigar for the night, (you know to impress there buds) I would suggest a few cheap line of gars like seconds, the ones the online stores, J.R 's and everyone else sells. If there was a study, which I know there is, these type of cigars out sell the Premium line 2 to 1. That leaves the good smokes for the rest of us :D
 
Well I think you have the cigars covered. Just make sure he has a variety of price points. You should have him consider doing some outside research on tobacco and cigar manufacturing methods. In addition, I would suggest imported cigarettes and possibly pipe tobacco as additional products. If he has the space a good humidor line and accessories. I would also add a nice place to smoke (lounge) is a plus. My town has a nice cigar store with a good selection but no place that I could enjoy my purchases. I would much rather sit with a few like minded individuals then in my garage.
 
For marketing support, you might want to see what is available in the way of promotionals from his distributors. There may be any number of perfectly good cigar manufacturers that have been snubbed by this elitist shop owner & would be eager to help you.

I would try to figure out the stats on the customer base that I am going after & see if you can find some folks that the other guy is not catering to, & why.

In a nutshell, promotional thinking is really nothing more than a basic understanding of human nature & the ability to put yourself in the other guy's head & successfully giving him/her what he/she wants. That sounds easy, but can be like trying to beat the casinos in Vegas.

You might want to see if you can find a direct source from a micro-manufacturer of high quality smokes that may not be all that well known. You could find them in Miami, Tampa or Key West perhaps. Puros do Brasil makes some fine cigars &, I believe, sells direct to smoke shops.
You could showcase their cigars & be "different" from the other guy without giving up quality. There are a lot of highly respected "big boys" on the scene today that got their start in this very way.

With all that being said, all I can do is tell you why I would buy cigars in a smoke shop. I am a middle aged, middle class, middle income, male & a raging cigar-a-phile with a fairly large collection.
1. I would be looking for something different that I haven't smoked before.
2. I would be wanting to smoke a cigar that I can't afford to have in my collection; ie, Graycliff, PAM, Davidoff, Opus, etc.

Hope this helps a little.
 
Frank,

Bunch of great lists there above but I believe it would be best to feature the smaller and botique brands, along the lines of what Kansas Hat was saying. Several of them even have ambassador programs to reward you for getting their brand on store shelves.

micro
Bucanero
La Luna
La Perla Habana
Gran Habanos
Padilla

small
Joya de Nicaragua
La Flor Dominicana
Puros Indios
maybe Indian Tabac (Edge, RP 1990, RP 1992)
maybe Cusano (C10, Cusano 18, Cusano Xclusivo)
maybe Gurkha

larger
CAO
Perdomo
Tornao
Oliva
La Aurora


The big store chain is going to have him in spades on General Cigar, Altadis, and Villazon products. They will get better prices so they will be able to sell them for less money. Unfortunately they will also have long standing Padron and Fuente accounts. The longer an account is open the more preference these guys give the shop. He might not be able to get his hands on a box of Opus X cigars for 3 years and will have to wait 5+ for Anejos or Maduro Hemmingways. He wants to get his Padron and Fuente accounts open so he gets what they give him, it won't be a lot at first.

I would say if he themed it to showcase the "micro Tabacalera" he would stand the best chance of having product lines the other guy does not. This also adds a degree of elitism to be sure. A weekly/monthly cigar tasting offering up the sticks at cost would be a good way to introduce clientele to the high quality products these smaller companys produce.

Sounds like fun for sure!
-Matt-
 
The owner of the lounge that i manage in town didnt know squat when she first started, she made the mistake of trusting her dist. which to a point is alright. I stepped in about two months afterwards and have cleaned up the humi considerably. The lists that people are naming are all great brands, but one thing you have to remember is that to get some of them, you have to be in the good graces of the Manufacturer. Getting a Fuente account and any customer service out of Padron is like pulling teeth. If you want some help with some dist. that would be more then helpful and any help with other questions, drop me an email. Id be more then happy to help in anyway possible bro!!

...kjpman
 
Anybody here like H. Upmann, personally I think that they are pretty good for the price yet I hear little to nothing about them here on CS? Just wondering.
 
Do the flavored ones too. I know people may disagree with me but most people who smoke cigarettes and want to try a cigar for the first time will be more interested in a flavored cigar. I don't know why this is, but i've seen it to be true.


Also, i'd add the Cusano line to those lists as well. They aren't carried by a lot of places, and it's popularity is gaining.


Other advice is to find things on the lists here that this other store doesn't carry, and make sure it makes it into this guys humidor.
 
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