We are now actively looking to hire a manager for the store and are looking at part time people for day to day operations. If your interested Check out the Craigslist Add or shoot me a personal e-mail. Ideally we'll find somebody that knows retail and the cigar business.
Now to the crazy part. A lot of people have asked me how hard is it to open something like a Cigar Lounge in California and I've had an equal number of questions if we are going to be able to serve drinks.
For the Cigar Lounge answer it is pretty simple: If you have a retail tobacco establishment you can smoke inside. Simple enough and attempts to tighten smoking regulation in California were recently defeated by the California Legislature. We have legislated to the point that if you don't want to encounter people smoking you don't have to. Now we need to make sure people that want to enjoy a Pipe or Cigar can continue to do so. However, we do have a risk of the city or county passing stricter laws than the state and causing problems in the future. But for now I think the sentiment is on the side of letting people choose. If you get the smoke away from me when I don't want it let others who do want it to smoke.
Now to the crazy part. A lot of people have asked me how hard is it to open something like a Cigar Lounge in California and I've had an equal number of questions if we are going to be able to serve drinks.
For the Cigar Lounge answer it is pretty simple: If you have a retail tobacco establishment you can smoke inside. Simple enough and attempts to tighten smoking regulation in California were recently defeated by the California Legislature. We have legislated to the point that if you don't want to encounter people smoking you don't have to. Now we need to make sure people that want to enjoy a Pipe or Cigar can continue to do so. However, we do have a risk of the city or county passing stricter laws than the state and causing problems in the future. But for now I think the sentiment is on the side of letting people choose. If you get the smoke away from me when I don't want it let others who do want it to smoke.
The alcohol is a different beast. Short answer if you drink you can't smoke inside. But we have spoken to a couple of people in the City of Fremont and explained that people can't come in off the street and get a drink. What we want to be able to do is have people come in and enjoy a drink while they smoke a cigar. You have to buy a cigar from the store and we are not going to allow cigarette smoking in the lounge. I think these two factors will let us sell alchoholic drinks to people enjoying a cigar in the lounge. There is a lot of precedence already in California of Cigar Lounges selling drinks, we just need to work with the City to understand this isn't a bar trying to get around the rules.
Updated Pictures. I swung by the store today to see the progress being made. They have trenched the concrete for the sewer line to the bathroom and pulled all the electrical. We are looking at having electrical inspections in a day or two.
In the first picture you see the dirt from the trench and a couple of the guys walking around. The open door at the right side of the picture is the lavatory. This is the retail space.
I also took a quick picture of the Lounge area. It is bigger than I imagined in my head. This is going to a great place to relax and enjoy a Cigar, and hopefully a drink, in. The openings in the middle of the wall are the braces for the big screen TVs we'll be installing. A 60" by the far wall and a 42" next to it. Above the Bar to the right you can't see will be another smaller TV.
No comments:
Post a Comment