just had a good week at the shop, we had above average sales all week & I was open on the 4th to the tune of 400 Bucks, I had to hire a new guy for the evening shift , he is working 6 to 9 Tues , wed. & Thursday s, I stay my self till 11 on Friday & a there is a guy on Saturday noon till when ever he get tired & goes home , usually 10, 11 or most of the time after midnight when he is sober enough to drive, , my closest competition is in Sewickley but it is a buy & fly shop, no lounge, no BS, no free coffee no TV or music, get in get your cigars & get out, he has a NICE selection of cigars & I have bought a lot of stuff there in the past, he carrys a lot of the high end stuff like Zino . I don't stock much of anything over 15 Bucks a stick, So I don't have opus or zino my self but I do like to have one here & there , & I pay full retail when I go there, , I am about 20 miles from Down town Pittsburgh & there are a lot of shops in da burgh itself & I go to them all . Tony I don't ship all that much but I will ship you what ever you want , IF I have it in stock..... jI have a few buddys who have moved away & I supply them a few times a year, I ship to Japan & Europe & to beat the import duty I never list it as cigars, on the international shipping labels as to keep the customer from paying the import duty.... Just like the stuff I used to get from Hong Kong & Switzerland, but I got a letter from the dept. of the treasury & I stopped importing contraband cigars years ago , now I just get them when some one is traveling !!!! hahahaha , being 20 miles away from anyone else with a lounge is great for the bottom line, this Oct. we will be open 7 years , the shop is paying for it self & there is a little money to play with but when we started out with 20K in inventory , we are up over 100K now, maybe more I haven't looked at the numbers for a few months , as long as the bills are paid & the sales keep the doors open I see an expantion in a few years.... Enjoy, Vince
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