B&M suicide by stocking mistakes by demographic?

[replicant_argent]

Ok, so this wasn't horribly tactful of me, but I did it as a matter of principle.
I didn't expect the problem to go away, be rectified, or matter at all, except make me feel better about my community.
I make the occasional purchase in a strip mall B&M and have for a couple years, nothing too exciting, just a single or two here and there. I have never been greeted in that particular store with a smile, or any type of enthusiasm, or did it seem that the register jockey knew a damn thing about cigars. Occasionally there would be other customers in the store, (not ever more than one or two) at the same time. One time, it was an obvious meth user, looking for more "supplies" and more than a few times kids looking over the large selection of "only for legal tobacco use" colorful art glass pipes and other crap in that case.

(here comes the not so tactful part)
I thought about it for a few days and decided to go back. I walked in and told the counter jockey that I would no longer give him any business of any type as long as they sold products geared toward illegal drug use. I then told him it was useless to try to defend their stores stock as "legal tobacco use" only. I was certainly no saint as a kid and young adult, but I decided that if they couldn't make their nut selling products I could respect, I didn't give a damn if they went belly up.
I have a fourteen year old daughter, she has never been to a tobacconist with me, but I think the presence of that crap not only perpetuates that lousy "gangsta" BS, but I would rather her think of a tobacconist as a place where respectable people shop for fine goods.

Screw it, there are 15 shops just like his within 15 miles of me probably. The guy at the desk probably doesn't give a shit, and is not intelligent enough to relay my views to the owner of the store and is short-sighted enough not to realize that enough people like me could have him searching for a job if business is bad enough.

Then again, they probably have a higher profit margin and sales figures from all their meth and dope related junk.

[mhillsing23]

Originally Posted by replicant_argent

Ok, so this wasn't horribly tactful of me, but I did it as a matter of principle.
I didn't expect the problem to go away, be rectified, or matter at all, except make me feel better about my community.
I make the occasional purchase in a strip mall B&M and have for a couple years, nothing too exciting, just a single or two here and there. I have never been greeted in that particular store with a smile, or any type of enthusiasm, or did it seem that the register jockey knew a damn thing about cigars. Occasionally there would be other customers in the store, (not ever more than one or two) at the same time. One time, it was an obvious meth user, looking for more "supplies" and more than a few times kids looking over the large selection of "only for legal tobacco use" colorful art glass pipes and other crap in that case.

(here comes the not so tactful part)
I thought about it for a few days and decided to go back. I walked in and told the counter jockey that I would no longer give him any business of any type as long as they sold products geared toward illegal drug use. I then told him it was useless to try to defend their stores stock as "legal tobacco use" only. I was certainly no saint as a kid and young adult, but I decided that if they couldn't make their nut selling products I could respect, I didn't give a damn if they went belly up.
I have a fourteen year old daughter, she has never been to a tobacconist with me, but I think the presence of that crap not only perpetuates that lousy "gangsta" BS, but I would rather her think of a tobacconist as a place where respectable people shop for fine goods.

Screw it, there are 15 shops just like his within 15 miles of me probably. The guy at the desk probably doesn't give a shit, and is not intelligent enough to relay my views to the owner of the store and is short-sighted enough not to realize that enough people like me could have him searching for a job if business is bad enough.

Then again, they probably have a higher profit margin and sales figures from all their meth and dope related junk.

Sounds like you have plenty of other places to go. I would ditch that place if I were you. There is no sense in giving them business if you don't support them as a whole.

[mosesbotbol]

I don't mind head shops and of course I do not mind cigar shops, but I do not think they mix well. The head shops that sell cigars usually have a lackluster selection and cigars as a formality to justify their other products. It's a shame that head shops have to do this, but the law is the law unfortunately.

[Cigar Hound]

I agree and applaud your view on this. A "respectable" tobacconist should be a place where the finer things are sold.

[mike32312]

Well said. I applaud you.

[stogie_kanobie_one]

Okay... I'm going to go out on a limb here and play Devil's Advocate. Bear in mind you were well within your right to say what you said and take the action you felt was appropriate. BUT

The things he sold that you objected to. Did they have any legal use? If not I would think they would be illegal. I WAS a bit of a saint growing up so I don't know honestly what was being sold but it was being sold LEGALLY, is this correct? The illegal use of something bears on the buyer not the seller.

A gun store legally sells legal guns for legal use. Once that gun leaves the store they have NO IDEA that the buyer will use it for it's legal purpose. The same could be said of Walmart selling a set of steak knives.

While again I agree with you in principal, that Libertine in me cries out live and let live.

[mosesbotbol]

A cigar shop could also sell ****, pawn shop, and cash checks, but that doesn't mean they should. The buying public and community standards should dictate what stores should be where.

[Teninx]

Very interesting....about three years ago a "cigar" shop opened in my town that sold bongs, little glass pipes and very small pipes holding tiny amounts of....smoking stuff...They had a crappy selection of Te-Amo cigars and some other stuff that they got from distributors. The local high school DARE class picketed them and the state came in and siezed all sorts of merchandize. The court case about prohibited sales is still pending. And now, a real cigar store has opened just down the street from this head shop and is putting them out of business as far as tobacco sales. Oh well.

[stig]

I don't neccesarily have a problem with head shops per se, but I do have a problem with the way some of them are run and the way some laws are designed for them to get around certain "problems". I was in one of these places 2 weeks ago and was forced to walk out with a disgusted look on my face as I watched the owner passing several lighters back and forth with a 14 year old boy telling him "I can sell you the lighter but I can't fill it for you." The boy was able to, if he chose to, buy lighter fluid as well. So I can see your point on this but I don't think that I would be headed into my local Dead Shop looking for good cigars and just don't think that those two businesses would really mix well together. The people that run the shops are two completely different types of people that cater to completely different types of clientel that don't usualy mix very well. Based on your desription of there service and knowledge alone I would be inclined to find a different local anyway. Good luck.

[ghostrider]

It's been my experience that the head shops stock the cheapest cigars they can find, and honestlyl have no clue about how to keep them properly humidified. It may be their feeble attempt to somehow legitimize the fact that they are selling drug paraphenalia. I won't give any business to these types of shops either.

I don't understand how it's legal to sell this type of stuff, yet if I get pulled over with one, I can be arrested for possession of drug paraphenalia. Hmmm...

[jcruz1027]

So if the community decides to say that no cigar shops can be operated in that community you would be okay with it because of the community standard? Change the word "community" to "state" would you be all for that?

There are community standards but they should not outweigh our personal rights to purchase or sell legal products.

Originally Posted by mosesbotbol

A cigar shop could also sell ****, pawn shop, and cash checks, but that doesn't mean they should. The buying public and community standards should dictate what stores should be where.

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by jcruz1027

So if the community decides to say that no cigar shops can be operated in that community you would be okay with it because of the community standard? Change the word "community" to "state" would you be all for that?

There are community standards but they should not outweigh our personal rights to purchase or sell legal products.

That is why there is more than one street to sell stuff on. I would not want **** shops on my Main St, but around the corner would be ok. I (we) all dictate what community standards are. Do you think it's ok if a store sold Klan paraphernalia and other hate material next to your church just because it is "legal"? What about a Methadone Clinic and **** shop next to your children’s kindergarten; probably not… Community standards have been the basis for many laws since the Pilgrims.

[drevim]

Originally Posted by ghostrider

It's been my experience that the head shops stock the cheapest cigars they can find, and honestlyl have no clue about how to keep them properly humidified. It may be their feeble attempt to somehow legitimize the fact that they are selling drug paraphenalia. I won't give any business to these types of shops either.

I don't understand how it's legal to sell this type of stuff, yet if I get pulled over with one, I can be arrested for possession of drug paraphenalia. Hmmm...

In the same vein....

Go to ebay and type in "pipes", you will get a fair selection of what some of our brothers here enjoy, but there is a few odd looking ones that would seem to have other uses beyond a fine leaf. So, you can actually purchase these devices from an online auction site, but if you pick it up at the post office, and get pulled over on the way home, you'll be arrested.

But back to topic. As others have said, both shops have their places, but not within the same 4 walls. Avoid these shops, and you'll be a happier person.

[Baric]

lol i think you did well by following your gut feelings. No need to give them your money if you dont like what theyre doing! sounds like the guy probably hadnt even awoken from a drug fuelled stupor long enough to consider the situation.

[jcruz1027]

We want more prisons but not in "our" neighborhoods. We want more place to put our trash but not in "our" neighborhoods. We want more electricity but don't want power line in "our" neighborhoods. Business have to go somewhere...Its always hard to balance morality and legal rights.

But cheers to the OP for sticking up for his beliefs. Its a rare thing...

Originally Posted by mosesbotbol

That is why there is more than one street to sell stuff on. I would not want **** shops on my Main St, but around the corner would be ok. I (we) all dictate what community standards are. Do you think it's ok if a store sold Klan paraphernalia and other hate material next to your church just because it is "legal"? What about a Methadone Clinic and **** shop next to your children’s kindergarten; probably not… Community standards have been the basis for many laws since the Pilgrims.