Opening Up Shop

[schramalam77]

Hey All, I am in the early stages of opening a B&M shop near where I live. By beginning stage, I mean it's a dream of mine that has only been thought of at this point. currently there are no smoke shops within a 15 min radius of this very densely populated area. The ones that we do have after that 15 minutes only sell house blends (which I don't particularly care for). I would love to open a shop that boasts a nice selection of pipes (new and refinished estate), cigars and pipe tobacco. In addition I would like to spend my down time making my own pipes and selling them.
Any tips, warnings, etc. for a new business enthusiast?

 

[str8grain]

I would ask Joe, He opened a shop named "Ash and Ember" recently, you can PM him through his youtube channel

https://www.youtube.com/user/flagg1122
And Friday recently opened "Governors" in Monroe, Louisiana, he's a great guy and may be able to answer some questions for you.

http://www.bayoulifemag.com/home-grown/

https://www.facebook.com/governorscigars

 

[woodsroad]

Beyond the obvious small business stuff, look in to:
State tobacco taxes.

How much retail business has been lost to online?

State licensing requirements

Research area B&M's that have closed. Go talk to the former owners. A lot to be learned there.
Get a job at a local B&M and learn as much as possible. Talk to customers. Learn their buying habits, desires and dislikes of buying local.

 

[mso489]

To really make this work, you need to focus on the small business side as much as the pipe side. How much capital

do you need to carry you until you make a profit. What are the pros and cons of a better location versus higher rent?

What are the most cost effective ways to communicate with potential customers? You need some kind of natural

clientele. My local pipe shop depends on the local university campus but draws in pipe and cigar people from all walks

of life. Retirees might be another cohort. You need some foot traffic and some recreational shoppers to bring in

a regular supply of browsers. Forums makes this look easy because it is made up of all pipe smokers, but it brings

them together from all over the world, so it is an optical illusion that the world is full of pipe smokers.

 

[ssjones]

Where is the shop located?

 

[phil67]

Wow... only a 15 minute radius to find a B&M tobacco store! I live in Chicago (which is obviously densely populated)and has just about every type of store one could possibly imagine. However, it's a hell of a lot more than a 15 minute radius before I can run into any type of B&M tobacco shop. Consider yourself lucky to have so many tobacco stores! Either way, I wish you the best of luck with your endeavour. Better yet, please open up your store withing a 15 minute radios of where I live! :wink:

 

[bigboi]

So it depends on where you live. Look into taxes and what it costs to be able to make a profit. There are some great shops about 30 minutes from where I am at and they have a hard time with pipe tobacco because of the tax that is put on it in the state of WA. But they keep at it because there are some very good customers they have that shop at their establishments just because they don't want to the B&Ms to go down.

 

[blendtobac]

Also, if your state allows smoking in a tobacco shop, the landlord may not. It may takes some looking around to find a location that would even allow a tobacco shop to operate there.
Russ

 

[mso489]

On the real estate front, I'd keep an eye out for a restoration area, like an old mill or factory (or whatever

your area offers) that will pull in a lot of foot traffic and somewhat upscale retail stores but charge low

rents, at least at first. I think they might be more open to permitting smoking, if the fire marshall isn't

on them. But you have to have your war chest of funds to keep you going until you get launched. Talk

to a lot of pipe/cigar shop owners, and hear them out even if they aren't telling you what you want to

hear, especially the old timers. My local independent shop owner says his retirement plan is to keep

working, which he says with a rueful shrug. And he's generally pretty happy with his situation, or at least

manages to look like it.