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Who gets more buying support

northernmoris

northernmoris

FFOX Whore
Joined
Jul 31, 2008
Messages
2,015
Location
Bergen county NJ
I have finally got to a point where I know what I like and don't. I have been narrowing things down and am gonna be buying some boxes soon. I'm looking for some feedback and would like to know how you guys do things. I really enjoy supporting my local B&M. They have a great variety and the prices are good on singles/ some boxes. My question is, how far to do you go to support your local? Will you spend an extra 10-30 dollars on a box? Example: Box of Padron 2000 maduro= $99 local, online= $80 after shipping maybe $10. I will just buy from my local. Tatuaje Noellas= $180 online, $240 local. At that point just buy online, right? Where do you draw the line? Looking forward to everyone's feedback.
Also is it bad etiquette to tell your local you can get a box for "x" amount cheaper online?










edit: Accidentally posted this in the "Cigar Lobby", hope it was ok to move it here. I didn't delete it there because I thought it was not ok to delete original post. Sorry for my mistake.
 
It really depends on the price for me, if the prices are close (which they seldom are) I buy at the local shop. Most of the time my box purchases are online and I buy singles to try at the B&M.



Ken
 
I have a very good relationship with my local.They will usually match online prices if I show them where I can get it for the lower price,but I also spend quite a bit of money there.









Edited for spelling
 
I think you have to establish yourself at the B&M first, before you start asking him for deals. Become a regular customer, buy a few boxes at a regular interval, drop in for some singles now and then. Once he knows you and what you're looking for, see what he offers. Tell him if you're looking for something specific. If he knows your a regular customer and he can't come close to a price you find online, I don't see how he'd be offended by you going with the better price every now and then.

Personally, I get better deals through the B&M guys I know online through here than most Internet offers. I like supporting them, too.

Just my opinion, though. I don't run a store that has to make money. :)
 
I spend about half my budget at the local. It pays dividends. Famous Smoke ain't ever going to do you a favor.

Doc.
 
as a b&m owner, i dont at all take offense if someone shares with me how much cheaper they can buy xyz cigar online. but i also expect them not to take offense if i wont match that price. like most have already stated, i think its a balance.
 
The Wife and I both have a good relationship with our local B&M, (her more so than i, i.e. bigger tits i guess). Anywho i do about 90% of buying from there and not online, mainly because i like to see, smell, and touch my sticks i buy. I have yet to buy a full box of any one stick. I believe when i do i know that i will get a good enough deal from him so i probably won't be buying online anytime soon.
 
Brick & Mortar. To establish between an online retailer and a actual concrete building. Nice question, I just found out last week. I felt too stupid to ask that question.
I have also seen B&C= Bricks and Clicks personally I don't like it, and it hasn't seemed to click much with other people












edit: to add
 
My only local is horrible. I buy everything online and have been cruising this site for a while that I have no problem supporting some of the vendors that post and contribute here.
 
Marcos said:
My only local is horrible. I buy everything online and have been cruising this site for a while that I have no problem supporting some of the vendors that post and contribute here.
Click to expand...

Gotta come down to Monmouth County Marcos! :sign: You can't be far at all.

As far as the question.... it's a mix. I actually owe my local a visit as I haven't been in recently. Lately most of my purchases have been online in GB's or samplers directly from CP. When it comes to the premium stuff, I try to get as competitive a price as possible, and have never purchased a box of premium smokes from my local. Say something like a box of Padron 2000, I definitely get them at my local. Even though I can get them $20 cheaper online, the online vendor won't set aside Opus and Anejos for me come the season, or look the other way when the "limit of 2" rule slips my mind. ;)
 
I try to support my local B&M as much as I possibly can. It's tempting to always take advantage of free shipping, below MSRP prices, and to your door delivery............But, my guys supply me with HTF's at MSRP, and provide me with a haven to smoke when I need it. I feel a certain sense of responsibility to give my business to the community I choose to live in, and help keep them going. Even if it is just a small part of the purchasing I do.
 
I support local businesses when I can, but our local "tobacco shop" is nothing but a head shop/cigarette retailer with a humidor full of junk and overpriced Fuentes from a middle man distributor somewhere in California. (I'm talking $12 [they just went up again] Short Stories which is ridiculous even with our taxes.)

I buy everything (cigar/pipe related) online from vendors here or through group buys.
 
I also try to support my local B&M. The online deals are very difficult to pass up and I estimate I spend about 1/2 of my cigar money there. However, I don't want to see my local shops close up so I do pay their higher prices the other 1/2 of the time. I can get excellent advice from my local guy which is not possible at a virtual store.
 
I am really lucky that a great local shop finally opened in my area. When I moved to Tucson, AZ about a year and a half ago, there was only a good shop that takes me nearly an hour to get to (no freeways is great in a town of >1,000,000), and two shops owned by the same guys that totally, totally, totally suck. I was pretty much out of cigars until another local shop opened that is close to me that is actually owned by a cigar guy. Great place, and where pretty much all of my cigar budget goes now...
 
I like to go to the local B&M's, chit chat with the fellas, smell the goodness, and buy singles. I tend to buy quantities online, because I'm an opportunistic buyer that pounces on the sales. Having said that, there's a few B&M's that participate here in the CP community that I've done business with - and will again. It's just not a steadfast rule with me...just depends on the deal.
 
Supporting your local B&M has advantages - specials, events, food, after hours poker, set asides, special sticks, etc. You have to find value in what you pay at your B&M or it's always going to be overpriced. Similar for online, if they send sticks that have been poorly stored at low prices, then there is no value. I like to hang out at my local establishments so I spend about 70% of my budget there and I get great prices (often below online) and great value. I also like to support the retailers that are part of CP when I do spend that other 25%. JMHO



Thread Jack:
This is one you may NEVER live down.... :p
in2xshp said:
i like to see, smell, and touch my stick
Click to expand...
Thread Jack over.
 
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