Your idea.s

rossdavey2

bigharpoon

Good luck with your business idea, I hope it goes well for you. As far as what I'd like to see in a B&M besides a great selection and service is an outdoor area (both open and an area under a roof for shade or when it's raining), an area with a tv for the big game(s), an area away from the tv for when I don't want to watch tv or be near one, and a good selection of whiskey and scotch and tequila. That about covers it.

wwhwang

How's about a basket of samplers in the walk-in? Not with a bunch of no-name 50 cent stick cigars from God knows where (like a lot of B&Ms have), but with decent to good cigars. Not only that, hopefully, you might be able to hold an event with a certain brand name.

rossdavey2

phobicsquirrel

Good luck and good luck getting a loan.

wwhwang

phobicsquirrel

xmacro

stephen_hannibal

xmacro

phobicsquirrel

kuzi16

as strange as it sounds... windows. make sure there are windows.

GadwinDuil

xmacro

cabinetmaker

Deep inventories, good coffee, sexy girls to work the counter. Also have a good pipe and pipe tobacco selection, as well as a knowledgeable pipe person.

rossdavey2

Just to clear a point. the rental/membership thing was the same thing for the lockers. It will be open to everyone. I'm not into that club members only. The punch card does sound like a good idea instead of the membership. Maybe a $20 rental for the locker with the free cigars and store wide discount and a punch card thing as well. Like buy 6 get one free sorta thing.

rwheelwright

a special section for cigar.com forum members! :- )

ljl

xmacro

Russ55

Scotch. Rum. Tequila. Bourbon. And good coffee.

Krieg

How are the ordinances down in Griffen? I know up here in Cartersville, the local B&M can't serve liquor products without having 10 or 15% of their income come from food...which is stupid in my book. One thing I think I would like to see is a nice attitude in the place with customers. All too often, I walk into Tobacco World (marietta) and soon as I walk through the door I feel like a out of town cowboy just walking into a saloon for the first time, with everyone staring at you, and not talking to you or offering help...just because I not a "Regular". This is the only reason why I keep going back to my cigar bar and not Tobacco World.

illinoisgolf99

zeebra

wwhwang

Like everyone says...customer service is key to gaining and retaining loyal customers. You could have a palace with all sorts of beautiful girls working there and huge entertainment systems and libraries, but if you treat your customers like retarded children, they'll all flock elsewhere.

cabinetmaker

I'd do $300/year on the lockers.

Matty_M

OOOO exciting, As an architect I agree with kuzi16 100% nothing worse than smoking in cave to me there is a strong connection between smoiking a stogie and the outdoors. I think you got some great ideas here to really get a good start on a solid bussiness plan. Just a few points: -natural light -great ventilation -you could host parties, people could rent out the shop for a few hours (great w/ liquor Lic.) -Plenty of seating (myself, I would perfer my own seat and not having to squeeze up next to someone in some loveseat so they can ash all over me.) -Fire place inside, fire pit outside. -If you dont have a kitchen, have BBQ's and invite peolpe threw a mailing list. Need any design advice PM me. you just might have the best store with all this creativity and knowlage here.

bandyt09

I know this may sound a little crazy but with the mentions of the Xbox and Wii, why not a checkers table and a table with a set of dominos (lots of these in Cuba). My local B&M has both along with a card table. He has a nice smoking lounge with 6 - 8 leather chairs and 2 leather sofas and a big screen TV which make the place great for enjoying a cigar. He doesn't "sell" liquor but allows, you as a patron, to BYOB and also has some mixers, i.e. soda available on a honor system. Punch cards, in my retail experience (I owned a sporstcard store), are hard to control because someone always has to take advantage, why not a customer database where you track the purchases and can keep more of a control on things. It's pretty simple to do, a slip of paper with name, address, email etc......... Also do a good bit of customer appreciation with give aways, a free drawing night, "raffle tickets' etc. MHO..............

sirfoster83