My local shop went south

[cigarsarge]

I went to one of my local shops, Gold Leaf of Seabrook NH, to pick up a couple anejo #55 and they jacked the price up to $16.45 from $8.60. I've bought a lot from them in the past but seeing there 5 shops all with 20 mins of me they may have lost my business.

I'm all for capitalism but not gettinggougedism.

Good call...The only way to stop gougers is not to buy from them.

[Drake]

greedy bastids

[TheSilentChamber]

Did you ask them why?

[nhcigarfan]

Did you ask them why?

yeah, she said that they are rare, hard to find cigars and people will pay the price for them.

[TheSilentChamber]

As much as I'm going to be flamed for this, I can see their side. Most of these places dont make much to beguin with, and if you can get something that you can make a nice profit off of, even if it is above msrp, you have to do what you have to do to keep the business open.

[nhcigarfan]

Yeah but here's the deal. I went into this shop a couple of months ago and bought one of the two boxes of anejo's. I bought the box of #77, which I split, and had them open the box of #55's, of which I bought 3. They didn't even put the cigars out. They had them sitting behind the counter. When I asked why they weren't out her response was "we don't really sell Fuente products and no one has ever asked for them except you." To which I stupidly replied that these were rare and people pay a lot for them on-line. Well they moved to a new much larger location and now have them proudly displayed right up front at double msrp. They are not hurting for business, especially because they're only a couple of miles from the Mass. boarder and get a lot of traffic from people not wanting to pay Mass tax.

[rpb67]

Yeah but here's the deal. I went into this shop a couple of months ago and bought one of the two boxes of anejo's. I bought the box of #77, which I split, and had them open the box of #55's, of which I bought 3. They didn't even put the cigars out. They had them sitting behind the counter. When I asked why they weren't out her response was "we don't really sell Fuente products and no one has ever asked for them except you." To which I stupidly replied that these were rare and people pay a lot for them on-line. Well they moved to a new much larger location and now have them proudly displayed right up front at double msrp. They are not hurting for business, especially because they're only a couple of miles from the Mass. boarder and get a lot of traffic from people not wanting to pay Mass tax.

You know I noticed LJ Perettis doing almost the same thing. This place is my go to cigar store. They are the oldest Fuente dealer in New England. I went in and got my Anejos and Opus. They charge MSRP for most of the stuff no deals. Then I am standing there with my bag of cigars and someone comes in for Anejos and he says we are all out. They keep their cigars in a humi out back that is out of site.

I asked him why he did that. I knew he had more. I wansnt sure how much more. He said " I dont recognize him and I like to take care of my regular Fuente customers first.

My next door nieghbor owns a cigar store in Woburn Mass and he is a Fuente dealer as well. He has been in business for about 10 years now. He gets no Anejos. I asked him why ? He said he has no call for them and everybody wants the Opus and other Fuente Stuff. He didnt even have any Holiday Packs this year.

I find it amazing that these Fuente dealers have so many stories when it comes to selling their cigars. Niether store is hurting for business. But each one I guess caters to their own clientelle and thats all they care about.

The only good thing is that niether shop gouges. They just have different views on selling cigars.

I didnt think a Fuente dealer could sell cigars over MSRP with out getting into trouble with the Fuente Co ?