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TOBACCO BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL
JULY/AUGUST 2014
trench marketing
tobacco stores because we got our
start as an Internet company that
eventually turned toward retail,
whereas most of [the] others
were retail stores that [then] got
into selling on the Internet. Our
catalog is more than 160 pages
long and features lots of what we sell—proprietary blends and
national brands. We have lots of buying power, and it helps us
keep prices lower than competitors’. Our customers enjoy that
advantage.”
And being the largest Internet provider of cigars doesn’t
hurt,either. “Cigars International is the top site hit on Google
for cigar retailers,” says Stracco. “It’s a very, very large part of our
business, but people love coming in and looking at cigars, and
all of our staff is highly trained about what goes into making
cigars. We send them to cigar factories to see the process
firsthand, and our customers like to hear about it.We also have
manufacturers come here to speak with our customers. That
gives them knowledge and makes them better consumers.”
The In-Store Bar Benefit
“Consumers are becoming extremely well-educated about
our products due to these
meetings with manufacturers,
and from what they can learn
on the Internet,” says Stracco.
“We’re getting lots of younger
consumers coming into the
store—[they’re] either in college
or new to their careers—and they’re extremely knowledgeable.
You’d think they wouldn’t have lots of disposable income to
spend, but they come in to buy top-of-the-line products. […]
I think it points to us being in the middle of a ‘mini-boom.’
There’s a whole social aspect of coming into a store like this.”
Stracco has also nurtured this social scene. “We have two
floors, each with its own lounge and bar that customers can
smoke in to their hearts’ content,” he says. “The upstairs lounge
was provided by Rocky Patel and has seven sets of leather
lounge chairs with tables. It leads to an outdoor deck with
tables and umbrellas that cover the upper part of the store.The
downstairs lounge is smaller, but has a pool table. We also have
our ‘Patriots’ room, which is dedicated to people in the armed
services both past and present, and 10 TVs mounted in various
locations throughout the store for people to watch sports, news
or educational product videos.”
