Long Time Cigar Retailer shuts it's doors in Atlanta

[JCK]

Last Thursday I received an email advertisement that the Tinderbox at Lenox Mall was shutting it's doors after 32 years of business.

I remember this was the place I bought my first real cigars back in 1988, something from Zino. It's not my favorite B&M in the city, but one I would go to from time to time to look for some interesting stuff.

I'd picked up sticks from $3 Fonsecas that were in yellow cello you could barely see through to Davidoffs that have been sitting on the shelves for 7 years.

It was sad to walk into the store to see the shelves empty, just a few cigars left to choose from that was once an overladen walk-in humi.

My last hurrah for the Tinderbox at Lenox was the box of Oliva V Lanceros they sold me for $150.

God Bless ya and good luck with future endeavors.

[PerpetualNoob]

With a global recession, and a full-on assault on all smokers and all tobacco, as if they were all the same, I'm actually a little surprised we haven't seen more of this. It's still depressing when it happens, though.

I've got three here that I shop, and for the life of me I can't figure out how they stay in business. I rarely ever saw another customer, and that was before the recession and latest round of anti-tobacco hysteria. I think I've seen a grand total of two other customers in the last year. I'm really glad to have them, and buy there as often as I can afford, but I have to wonder how much longer I'll have the privilege.

[AlohaStyle]

That sucks... sorry to hear.

[orca99usa]

I've got three here that I shop, and for the life of me I can't figure out how they stay in business. I rarely ever saw another customer, and that was before the recession and latest round of anti-tobacco hysteria. I think I've seen a grand total of two other customers in the last year. I'm really glad to have them, and buy there as often as I can afford, but I have to wonder how much longer I'll have the privilege.

There is one shop I've started hitting near McCarran Airport in Las Vegas. The owner is a nice guy, eastern European I gather from the accent. We were talking as I sat down to smoke an Aroma de Cuba I bought from him. I was his third customer of the day - at 3:30 PM. He said that he was making enough to stay in business, but not much more than that. I wouldn't be surprised if this place disappears soon, and that would be a shame.

[ghe]

JCK - I remember shopping at that Tinder Box years ago when I lived in the Atlanta area. Sorry to hear that it has come to the end of the line.

[JCK]

Originally Posted by ghe

JCK - I remember shopping at that Tinder Box years ago when I lived in the Atlanta area. Sorry to hear that it has come to the end of the line.

I'm sad to see it go as well. I asked the owners of the franchise who were down from New Jersey if the lack of business was the reason they were closing, but the answer was surprisingly no. They shut down because they could not negotiate another favorable lease with Simon Malls.

As far as the other local B&Ms go, they stay in business with a healthy loyal customer base as well as mail order items.

There's still a great choice of B&Ms and smoke lounges around that I can pop into, albeit my cigar purchases have dwindled to almost nothing. The box of Olivas was the first personal box purchase I'd probably made this year.

[Cigary]

Originally Posted by JCK

I'm sad to see it go as well. I asked the owners of the franchise who were down from New Jersey if the lack of business was the reason they were closing, but the answer was surprisingly no. They shut down because they could not negotiate another favorable lease with Simon Malls.

As far as the other local B&Ms go, they stay in business with a healthy loyal customer base as well as mail order items.

There's still a great choice of B&Ms and smoke lounges around that I can pop into, albeit my cigar purchases have dwindled to almost nothing. The box of Olivas was the first personal box purchase I'd probably made this year.

I agree that retail space in the malls is crazy anymore and it becomes cost prohibitive. I would think that after all those years that they would have been given some slack. Sorry to see them go as I live in the area but glad we still have a number of good places to shop for cigars.