Well, it’s come to this meine Schatze: We can’t seem to get a lease, so we may just go out and buy a place! That is, if we can get approved. We’re going to try for an SBA 504 loan, which is a complex procedure (well, just buying a place in general is complex procedure), but we’re going to give it a shot. Wish us well, so far there’s really only one property we’re interested in, so anything can happen.

If that fails, we have to consider other options. Either we will stick with e-comm and xnay the B&M, or we can look into opening a smaller place with no alcohol sales (not my ideal shop, to be sure). Finally there’s the option to just purchase a shop for sale- many of them are going for about what it costs to fix up a place, and although I haven’t seen them, I assume they’re already built out nicely since they’re already in business. The upside to that is that we avoid having to negotiate for lease, we just assume the one that’s already there, but the downside is most of the ones I’ve found for sale are located in California, which is one of the worst places in the country to be in the cigar business (no wonder they’re selling!). Keep your ear the ground for us, and if you hear of any cigar shop owners wanting to sell, send them our way!