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TOBACCO OUTLET BUSINESS
MAY/JUNE 2012
trench marketing
“Thisisnotjustaretailstore
where you buy something
and leave. We listen to our
customers, we know what
they like and we treat them
like family.”
for poker night,’” says Gonnello. “It gives them an added
incentive to splurge on a more expensive cigar and then if
they like it, I have a new customer for that brand.”
The store also regularly partners with vendors to hold
promotional events and between May and September hosts
monthly parties where the cigar maker offers promotional
prices on a given brand or brands and the store provides
food and beverages (soft drinks and water). The events
often draw between 200 and 300 people. While the Cigar
Room doesn’t charge for attendance, the store began
requiring customers to make a purchase to gain access to its
buffet line. “We were finding that we had a handful of people
who would come and get in line two or three times without
buying anything,” explains Gonnello, who says that now the
store stamps a customer’s hand after the purchase and its
servers check for the hand stamp. “If someone doesn’t have
a stamp, we just say very politely, ‘Have you bought your
cigar yet?’ and explain that you need to buy a cigar before
getting food. It’s never been a problem.”
In autumn the store hosts its annual pig roast, which
has always been a big success. Last year, The Cigar Room
expanded the event into an Oktoberfest featuring seven
vendors. The event drew 500 people and was so successful