Welcome to the boards from Louisiana.

I think you have a couple of holes in your logic. For starters, you are considering that ANY of those 11,000 people passing in front of your shop gives a hoot about cigars, which is an awfully presumptuous assumption to make. You are selling cigars, not alcohol, not food, not gas. It is a luxury amongst luxuries. Case in point: the last town I lived in (I recently moved, within the last 4 months) had a really nice B&M. Leather couches, events, top-notch cigar selection, knowledgeable staff. The town I live in now dwarfs the town I used to live in, yet there is no B&M of the same caliber. I can still find the cigars I like to smoke, but there are no more poker nights at the local B&M, if you know what I mean. The point being, you need to have a community of existing cigar smokers almost to support your product. If there isn't demand already, you are going to be hard-pressed to create one. Especially in a community that maximizes at 50K in population. You can't count on college kids as your primary customer base. They are poor. Unless, of course, you live in Cambridge, Mass., or Stanford, California.

Secondly, especially depending on where you live, networking and relationships are going to be your biggest benefactors in developing your business. Tell everyone. When people see you, your image and appearance should be synonymous with that cigar shop you want to open. You are also facing some fierce competition from online retailers. Online cigar retailers can carry a larger inventory than you can, provide cheaper prices because they aren't paying rent in a convenient business district, and they buy in bulk. There are several cigar dealers that are members and regular contributors to this board that can attest to this. Most people on this board buy the majority of their cigars online. Not to mention that when customers buy online, they don't pay taxes. Another factor of a B&M cigar stores is, one slip up with the wrong customer, and word of mouth would kill you faster than you ever could on your own.

Now that your bubble has been completely deflated and you feel like you have no hope, it is obvious that you are at least reasonably passionate about your hobby. What I would suggest is that you maybe get in contact with a fancy bar in town (does your city allow you to smoke indoors? if not, make sure they have a patio), someplace where the owner enjoys cigars as well. I'm guessing if they own a bar or some kind of fancy uppity place like that, they might be trying to attract a more sophisticated clientele. Because we ALL know all cigar smokers are sophisticated, right? If you start there, maybe promoting a cigar tasting event with a few choice ports or scotch's, and maybe setup a small humidor in that shop, you might be able to grow your business that way. Maybe you also include another humidor of your cigars in a liquor store or specialty grocery store in town. But start small. That's my advice.

And tell us a bit about yourself. Welcome again from Louisiana.