I Hate to Post This..Briar Patch Closing

[loneredtree]

Just in. My heart is heavy to see this.
//
It is with a heavy heart that we announce the closure of the Briar Patch. The Briar Patch has been a leader in the Sacramento tobacco community since the 1970s.
Due to the continued aggressive anti-tobacco policies of the City of Sacramento and the State of California, we are no longer able to continue operations. The recent passing of the flavored tobacco ban by the City of Sacramento makes it impossible for the Briar Patch to remain viable. In addition to the local legislative impediments, the FDA and Federal Government continue to impose new regulations on the industry increasing costs nationwide. The onslaught of legislation has caused many increases in the cost of doing business, due mostly to increased license fees and compliance costs, that we can no longer keep up. We wish this were not the case, and we hope that in the future consenting adults are still allowed to enjoy the use of tobacco without further taxation and regulation.
The Briar Patch will close its doors for the last time on May 24th. We will be running a liquidation sale, starting next week. The lounge will be open to all customers starting May 1st. We invite you to join us in the lounge and smoke your pipe or cigar to celebrate the long tenure of the Briar Patch.
All gift cards and store credit must be redeemed before closure to be honored. Our Fivestars Loyalty program will end on May 10th, earned loyalty points will be redeemable until this date so please make sure to redeem your points before the program ends. We will not be awarding any new loyalty points for purchases during the liquidation sale.
If you have any questions you may call us at 916-231-0054. Please visit us for our liquidation sale at 1107 L Street in Downtown Sacramento, or you may place an order over the phone.
Thank you for your support and patronage of the Briar Patch. We are grateful for the memories we have been able to share with you in our lounges.
The Michelsons

 

[morgansteele]

I visited once last year and it is a very nice shop. I'm sorry to see it close.

 

[weezell]

Another tragic loss to the pipe smoking community. God Bless and may things fare well for you and yours...

 

[pianopuffer]

I am going to be in CA next week, so I will happily pay them a visit (and my respects).

 

[brian64]

Very sorry to hear this. It's something that would never have happened in a sane society.

 

[jzbdano]

I was in there a few weeks ago and handled a couple nice Castellos and Sav Autographs. I should have bought one.

 

[jpmcwjr]

The Briar Patch was my go-to store when I lived in Winters. Great people, good stuff. They had three outlets five years ago, then slowly pared down to one, and now..... I'll get by if I can get up to the area before the final day.

 

[mso489]

Sounds like a fine community and a real loss to the wider community. The unintended consequences.

 

[jguss]

I think intended consequences is nearer the mark

 

[brian64]

^ Yes, of course it's intended consequences. Surely no one could be so naive as to think otherwise.

 

[greatdane]

Sad, but hardly a surprise after what we've seen coming from the People's Republic of California.
Thanks to our "progressive" betters, B&Ms will soon be a relic of the past.

 

[mikethompson]

Sorry to hear of another small business closing down.

 

[grettman]

Slowly the little things that make life enjoyable are being taken away in this country. Big things too but the little pleasures in life are very visible.
All because people think they know what is best for us. It’s a shame.

 

[sumusfumus]

Sad to read...
More infuriating politics that prevent and destroy the ability of man to earn a living.
Censorship and forum politics.....prevents me from making any other comments lest I offend the sensibilities of some readers.

 

[codyl]

Sad to hear. The Briar Patch Loehmann's Plaza location was close to where I used to live and I bought my first pipe, a Vauen bent billiard, and first smoked a pipe there. It was by far the best B&M I have ever been to for pipe smokers. The Loehmann's Plaza location had a great selection of bulk/tins and the staff and lounge were the best. I have fond memories of walking into the store and being able to get bulk/tins of Esoterica's like Dunbar, Dorchester, and Penzance, Dan Tobacco's Old Ironsides, and Samuel Gawith's 1792 Flake. I felt like a kid in a candy store when I was there. They will be sorely missed.

 

[ssjones]

That is sad news indeed. Who fills their shoes - likely no one.

 

[kcghost]

It's just a matter of time before they are all gone.

 

[ron123]

Sad to read...

More infuriating politics that prevent and destroy the ability of man to earn a living.

Censorship and forum politics.....prevents me from making any other comments lest I offend the sensibilities of some readers.

You took the words right out of my mouth...

 

[sablebrush52]

I'm always sorry to see a B&M go away. We've pretty much lost all the decent pipe shops in the LA area. But there are a lot of reasons why businesses go kaput. And despite the comforting proclamations of outrage couched in hinted at political terms in this thread, none of you actually know the story, you just think that you do. Maybe the statement is the whole truth, and maybe there were other factors in a business going away that had been contracting for some time. And I know it's fashionable to mindlessly sling phrases like "people's republic", which is hilarious when thrown against a state whose economy is bigger than that of the United Kingdom. Comfort yourselves with your mythology if you must, but you're fooling yourselves.
Maybe the bottom line is that the business failed because it failed to adapt to changing conditions. It might be nice if things could just stay the same and we could all must do things the way they used to be done. But that's fantasy. In may own career I've had to retool, retrain, and continue to evolve to be able to stay competitive in a marketplace that didn't just change a little, but went through a total technological change that made most of my years long earned expertise almost instantly irrelevant. For me it was either disappear or adapt whether I wanted to or not.
So I adapted to the new technological landscape while also adapting the tools I had learned to make them relevant and useful to that new landscape. So pardon me if I'm a little less than "boo hoo" and speciously outraged over this. They made a decision to close down. That may not have been the only choice open to them and nobody here really knows all the factors involved.
An unpleasant truth is that pipes and pipe tobaccos aren't huge sellers anymore. My local B&M is doing just fine, but that's because they adapted as a business. I don't happen to like the way that went because they dumped all of the pipes and pipe tobacco, as it didn't bring in any income, and they just deal in cigars. They fixed up the interior, invested in comfortable couches, big screen TV's, have drinks and snacks, and are doing well.
You may now return to your soapboxes.

 

[ron123]

Well, at least the children of California are safer, now.
...coming to another state near you, soon.