Well August started out with the highest excise tax increase in the history of the state of New York. Cigar smokers have been victimized needlessly as a means to address state budget issues that have nothing to do with the enjoyment of Tobacco. Very little has changed at the shop, guys are still buying their favorites while searching for new product of good quality at a good price! The National convention for our industry was held in New Orleans this year to the great dismay of many of our retailers. Attendance was at an all time low for this years event. New york State retailers were poorly represented due to the new excise increase and poor economic conditions in the state and across the country. Many of the manufacturers sent sales reps home early due to the lack of customers. Few new products were released at this years show. Major players chose to concentrate on making sure they were well represented in their retailers humidors with their top of the line products. Several smaller and new vendors continue to test the market place and bring new or less popular cigars to the market. 2010 will be a pivotal year for everyone involved in our industry. Business going forward will be like navigating in new uncharted waters. There has been some talk about repealing the excise increase and the new costs associated with license fees. So far nothing has changed our license to sell Tobacco in NYS rose from $100. to $1000. last year. Seems that our plan to invest a large amount of money in inventory pre tax has proved to be a business windfall for Virgil Ave. Customers constantly tell us of the cost of goods at some of our competitors stores. We smile and tell them that we continue to be the leader in selection,service and price in WNY. and S Ontario. Virgil Ave Tobacconist will continued to evolve and grow with the the help of our loyal customers and love for premium Tobacco products.
Not much new stuff this month. JC Newman released a new line extension in the Quorum line. The original blend has been joined by a Conn.blend. Sold out first shipment in a week! Great price point. A huge hit for the Fuente Newman boys! New shape in the very popular Brickhouse line is not surprisingly a 60 ring......
New product from Don Pepin/ My Father's Cigar are here and selling well. 3 packs and buy 3/1 specials from Macanudo, Hoyo d' Monterry and Oliva are great for golf or the game.. Which brings me to sports....
College Football Saturday's, Tailgate NFL Sunday's, Monday Night Football, Buffalo Sabre's Hockey, Yankee Baseball and all the Fantasy football smack you can talk! In our smoke friendly customer lounge. The is never a charge for customer service at Virgil. Come on in and enjoy a game our place! The Fantasy guys held their draft. Chaos, with a few showing up late and controversy as usual. What a season this will be!!! There is talk that the commissioner will retire after this season? Cool stuff in Oct. Master cigar roller in house doing his thing and a letting you roll your own cigars! This is a great event for people interested in having a cigar roller for a wedding, party ,or special event! Food, drinks, specials, all on Virgil Ave and La Gloria Cubana Cigars. The fall event schedule is shaping up and new updates will be coming for the web site throughout the holidays.
July
July has been quite a month at the shop! On the 1st. cigarettes increased $1.60 per pack. Currently at Virgil, because we enjoy no discount from our distributors a pack of name brand smokes sells for $10.50. As of August 1st.the state excise tax on tobacco will increase from 46% to a whopping 75% of the wholesale price. Many smoke shops such as ourselves have chosen to invest a sizable sum of money on inventory pre increase to provide a small buffer to our clientele. This is a double edge sword and a ripe opportunity for some unscrupulous retailers to take advantage of a bad situation and make it worse. If on Sunday Aug.1st. all the prices at your favorite shop are reflective of the new tax increase, that retailer is making an extra 29% on every cigar he sells from inventory he purchased before the increase! Some retailers will defend this abusive policy by saying that the tax increase will hurt them most and any profit they can make is fair. Or they just don't care what they do to their customers in exchange for the almighty dollar! Which makes them no better than our elected trash! We will continue to hold prices at there current level until the time comes and we are forced to purchase at the new rate. Then and only then will we pass along the tax increase. Not only do we believe that this is the right thing to do, but good business! Our customers deserve the best service,selection and fair pricing!
July is Italian Festival month and the month we hold the Rick Manzoni Golf Classic. Each event has become a must do for many of our customers. The Italian Festival enjoyed 4 beautiful sunny days and the crowds were large. People got to enjoy food, entertainment and a cigar in our air-conditioned smokers lounge. The lounge at Virgil is a yearly tradition for so many that visit the festival . This years Golf Classic was the best to date! Fourteen foursomes competed for the coveted Virgil Cup! This years winners were Team Costell at 8 under. Congratulations guys for coming out and kicking the shit out of the rest of us! Golfers enjoyed a day complete with breakfast, lunch,dinner,cigars,prizes,and great fun! Thanks to everyone that came out in support of our Tournament! Also thanks to the nice people at Arrowhead Golf course for hosting our 4th. year. Great job!
Cigars are still turning up although the tax increase in NY makes bringing in new product more difficult.We have decided not to attend the national trade show in New Orleans in Aug.When will these people understand that New Orleans is no place to be in Aug! Talk in the industry is that this will be a poorly attended show with little participation from NY retailers. Available this month is the new house bundle from JC Newman Nat&Maduro in several sizes starting at $4.05 for a robusto. Oliva Cigars has introduced a new blend in the Nnb line.In addition to the Conneticut,Camaroon&Hhabano wrappers, they now feature a Cain line. Same shapes only and new blend.at fair prices. July was the breakout month for the new Rocky Patel Fifteenth Anniversary cigar . These cigars are limited and are also pre-tax increase so stop in and see what they are all about. Enter to win a nice Callaway,Macanudo golf bag all this Aug. Purchase any General Cigar product and recieve a chance to win the golf bag. A winner will be selected on Sept. 1st. Stop in and maybe you will be hauling your sticks around in a custom Macanudo Bag! Continue to look here for up-coming events and information. Also on the web site. It's been one hell of a summer and we think that we will continue to grow and enjoy being WNY and S, Ontario's Tobacconist of choice.
July is Italian Festival month and the month we hold the Rick Manzoni Golf Classic. Each event has become a must do for many of our customers. The Italian Festival enjoyed 4 beautiful sunny days and the crowds were large. People got to enjoy food, entertainment and a cigar in our air-conditioned smokers lounge. The lounge at Virgil is a yearly tradition for so many that visit the festival . This years Golf Classic was the best to date! Fourteen foursomes competed for the coveted Virgil Cup! This years winners were Team Costell at 8 under. Congratulations guys for coming out and kicking the shit out of the rest of us! Golfers enjoyed a day complete with breakfast, lunch,dinner,cigars,prizes,and great fun! Thanks to everyone that came out in support of our Tournament! Also thanks to the nice people at Arrowhead Golf course for hosting our 4th. year. Great job!
Cigars are still turning up although the tax increase in NY makes bringing in new product more difficult.We have decided not to attend the national trade show in New Orleans in Aug.When will these people understand that New Orleans is no place to be in Aug! Talk in the industry is that this will be a poorly attended show with little participation from NY retailers. Available this month is the new house bundle from JC Newman Nat&Maduro in several sizes starting at $4.05 for a robusto. Oliva Cigars has introduced a new blend in the Nnb line.In addition to the Conneticut,Camaroon&Hhabano wrappers, they now feature a Cain line. Same shapes only and new blend.at fair prices. July was the breakout month for the new Rocky Patel Fifteenth Anniversary cigar . These cigars are limited and are also pre-tax increase so stop in and see what they are all about. Enter to win a nice Callaway,Macanudo golf bag all this Aug. Purchase any General Cigar product and recieve a chance to win the golf bag. A winner will be selected on Sept. 1st. Stop in and maybe you will be hauling your sticks around in a custom Macanudo Bag! Continue to look here for up-coming events and information. Also on the web site. It's been one hell of a summer and we think that we will continue to grow and enjoy being WNY and S, Ontario's Tobacconist of choice.
May/June
Please let me start by apologizing for not posting the Blog for May/June till now.
You may or may not be aware of the fight we have been engaged in with our legislative representatives in Albany in regards to the proposed increase in Tobacco excise tax. A huge blow has been levied against every Tobacco retailer and smoker in New York State. Because our moronically dysfunctional state legislators can't seem to do anything even remotely close to competent in solving the states 9 billion dollar budget crisis. All smokers in the Empire State now enjoy the highest tobacco excise tax's in the country. Why you ask? Well first we are an industry in free fall, know one in Albany would ever want to be viewed as a friend/supporter of the Tobacco industry. We have lost all the big dollar lobbyists that used to represent the cigarette industry in the hallowed halls. Where back room deals are common and legislators have little or no understanding of the items they are voting on. A system where the tax payer is a helpless pawn to the whims of all special interest groups and powerful state unions. Spineless political hacks continue to add tax's instead of taking the initiative to cut spending and control personal pork barrel projects. The Governor wants to cut the deficit by cutting programs and any revenue raising means possible. Barry and I have been in business for 16 yeras a Virgil . We have invested a great amount of time and money building W.N.Y's finest smoke shop. Over the 16 years we have incurred 4 major tax increases from the state and federal government and the unpressidented control of all tobacco manufacturing and marketing to the FDA! As of July 1st all cigerettes will increase by $1.60 per pack making the price somewhere between $9-$10. depending on location and vendor. This increase came with a floor stock tax, on every pack of cigarettes in your inventory you must pay the state The $1.60 in advance. Our company owed the state about $1200. just to have inventory. Imagine a store that stocks and sells hundreds of packs of cigerettes a week. or an operator that owns several locations.
You may or may not be aware of the fight we have been engaged in with our legislative representatives in Albany in regards to the proposed increase in Tobacco excise tax. A huge blow has been levied against every Tobacco retailer and smoker in New York State. Because our moronically dysfunctional state legislators can't seem to do anything even remotely close to competent in solving the states 9 billion dollar budget crisis. All smokers in the Empire State now enjoy the highest tobacco excise tax's in the country. Why you ask? Well first we are an industry in free fall, know one in Albany would ever want to be viewed as a friend/supporter of the Tobacco industry. We have lost all the big dollar lobbyists that used to represent the cigarette industry in the hallowed halls. Where back room deals are common and legislators have little or no understanding of the items they are voting on. A system where the tax payer is a helpless pawn to the whims of all special interest groups and powerful state unions. Spineless political hacks continue to add tax's instead of taking the initiative to cut spending and control personal pork barrel projects. The Governor wants to cut the deficit by cutting programs and any revenue raising means possible. Barry and I have been in business for 16 yeras a Virgil . We have invested a great amount of time and money building W.N.Y's finest smoke shop. Over the 16 years we have incurred 4 major tax increases from the state and federal government and the unpressidented control of all tobacco manufacturing and marketing to the FDA! As of July 1st all cigerettes will increase by $1.60 per pack making the price somewhere between $9-$10. depending on location and vendor. This increase came with a floor stock tax, on every pack of cigarettes in your inventory you must pay the state The $1.60 in advance. Our company owed the state about $1200. just to have inventory. Imagine a store that stocks and sells hundreds of packs of cigerettes a week. or an operator that owns several locations.
WELCOME
I thought about doing a review of all 2009's events & activities. This would help people who visit our site to get a feel for the kind of place Virgil Avenue Tobacconist is! Instead of a review, what I will try to do is keep everyone current on all that's happened this year and what's going on in the months ahead.
So I hope you enjoy it.
Bob
So I hope you enjoy it.
Bob
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