When will we open

Putting primer on to get ready to paint

That is a GREAT question.

There is a lot of stuff happening every day.  The Painters were in Friday, Saturday and even Sunday!  They have the external walls painted and will finish up Monday with the other walls.  I'm not a guy you should ask about color scheme but to me it looks great.

Tools of the trade

If we work forward on the schedule it should be at least 2 weeks of work to finish up construction. After painting we need to hang the lights, stain the concrete floor, finish the bathroom and electrical and a ton of little things.  I think if we get everything done it 2 weeks we are lucky.

Then we have probably at least 2 weeks of work to get everything into the store.  Last night we all met to finalize our list of cigars, pipes and accessories. This is going to be one kick ass selection of supplies.  I can't wait.  So this puts us to best case 1 month from today.

Once everything is done, store is stocked and we are ready we will have a little private friends and family event. This will not be open to the public. There will be refreshments and food and we want to get feedback on how things are working in the lounge and if there are any tweaks we need to make.  If you want an invite to this event let one of the owners know.

This is the wall of the lounge about 8 feet of the ground

A couple of days after the private event we will open our doors.  No fanfare (ok, maybe a little fanfare) but we don't want to start off day one with a grand opening and find we can't ring people up on the cash register or some other sort of silliness.

A couple of weeks after we do this soft opening we will have the GRAND OPENING OF THE OHLONE CIGAR LOUNGE.  We have already been approached by a couple of cigar manufacturers saying that they want to be involved.  You'll see a blast go out on Twitter, Facebook this blog and e-mail when we pick the right date.  I think any way we slice it we are into May for the  Grand Opening.

You get a feel for the color contrasts we will have

When we started we thought we could open by the Super Bowl.  Then March Madness, Then opening day of baseball and now I am sure we will be open before NHL playoffs are over.

We've had quite a few interviews with manager and part time employee candidates.  I think we've found a couple of great candidates that have the right personality and know how to run a retail operation.  We should be able to hire somebody soon.  If you want to manage a Cigar Store and Lounge you'd better hurry.  We will not hire anybody for the part time position until we open or about a week before we open. Send your resume in.