[RandJCigars]

This is a great Topic. My experiences are similar to all of yours. The price thing is what gets me the most. Here in Texas, cigar taxes are at a minimum (1.1 cents per stick), which allows me to be quite competitive with everyone....including all the online giants.

To be honest with you, their prices aren't that great when it comes to box pricing and single stick pricing. I got that covered easily. It's the sampler packages that I have to explain to customers. From time to time, I get a gentleman coming in carrying a catalog from one of the Online Giants, and he whips it open and points to a particular package. What most of these guys are looking at is stick Quantity, not quality. They'll be pointing at a sampler that has 25 sticks for $30 and all the sticks in there are garbage. Or even the samplers that include some decent sticks, but mixed in there are 5 Vegas and Padilla "Hybrid". Most of us retailers know, from being in the business, that these gimmicks work very well. It just gets old explaining that 5 Vegas is just some garbage CI came out with, or Rocky Patel "Connecticut" is not the same as Rocky Patel Vintage 99'. Once these customers are educated, I feel they appreciate the honesty and the lesson.

Down here in Houston, it rains alot. Well in the shopping center I am in, there is a flower bed in front of the store. On a rainy day, I cannot count how many times people park curb side....run through the muddy flower bed....come inside the store for 1 cigar....hand me their soaking wet money...and run out as if their shoe prints aren't all over the tile. Really bugs me...

The cell phone thing isn't an issue for me here, people just seem to recognize that their conversations should be kept to theirselves outside before they come in.

Another big one for me, is what another member mentioned above. Someone will come in, and look for 10 minutes at everything you have, and pick the one thing you don't carry (vitola wise) and blurt out "Oh you don't have Macanudo XYZ!?" when there is like 9 different sizes of Macanudo on the shelf. I find it kind of interesting though, because when I call them out on their bluff, they usually man up and buy something realizing that they just made an ass out of theirselves in front of (usually) 5-6 guys sitting down and smoking. There are those, however, that come in and ask for certain things from the "Big 5" I call it (Cohiba, Montecristo, Macanudo, Punch, and Romeo) but are highly acceptable to suggestions of a better stick and better value for the same price range. Those are the customers that come in the next time and usually Thank me for "opening my eyes".

Let's keep this topic going, its always interesting to hear what other retailers have to say about their day to day experiences in their stores.