Hi everyone! It’s been another interesting week here in Norfolk. 

On Monday, I was joined in the shop by Marcus! It was his first Monday and as many of my loyal readers know, we have lots of online orders on a Monday. Marcus took his stack and did a really good job picking all of the cigars and only made a few mistakes. He was still a little nervous to serve customers and so I handled them all in the morning. I was then on my lunch break when I heard the shop doorbell go, I was prepared to get the door but I heard Marcus get it and deal with the customer in a professional manner. Afterwards he was shaking from excitement! I was proud of him and I could tell he was proud of himself.

On Tuesday, I was back in the shop with Marcus, I spent some more time training him about cigars as well as the pipe tobacco. He got very comfortable with the pipe tobacco very quickly and he has started trying to learn about different flavours of pipe tobacco. Meanwhile, I served a gentleman who usually comes in for cigars, however this time he wanted to try a pipe. So I suggested a Cool & sweet pipe and some American Blends tobacco to try. The gentleman then went away and came back 5 minutes later to buy some cigars. Later on in the day I made a start on all of the shops newsletters. In the afternoon, we had a regular gentleman come in who always wants a rare box of Cuban cigars, this time it was the LCDH Trinidad La Trova. He bought two boxes as well as a couple of Arturo Fuente Don Carlos No. 3 for himself. He then paid in all cash, and as much as cash is king, we do then have to check every note is not counterfeit, which adds time to your experience but I am sure the cigars are worth it. Meanwhile my latest article for the C.Gars cigar library went online, it is about Fratello cigars which you can read by clicking here.

On Wednesday, I was back in the shop. I had a shop meeting with my manager to discuss what we could do with the shop. We will be getting some more furniture to help us display products in the shop. But we won’t be stopping there, you’ll have to come in store to see what new items we have! One display cabinet we will be getting will be promoting a beautiful ST Dupont Ligne 2 Le Mans lighter. It is so lovely, the pictures don’t do it justice! We will be selling that at the online exclusive price of £749 instead of £1550! A massive discount! We also launced our latest re-brand for Dominique London! You can read all about it here.

On Thursday, Lisa and I were completing the New World stock count. We got through it as quick as we could and thankfully (with a little help from Will) we completed it by 2.30! Afterwards I had a shop meeting with the rest of the retail team. We discussed November promotions as well as this year’s Christmas raffle! You’ll have to pop in store to see what we have selected to promote. I also took a couple of pictures to help out the other shops newsletters.

On Friday, I was back in the shop with Marcus, I asked him to check the pricing on some of the pipes and update our pipe displays. Meanwhile I was completing most of the shop newsletters. Some of the other shops really have some good deals going on at the moment! Make sure you give them a visit. In the afternoon, Marcus and I completed the Cuban stock count.

I hope you have enjoyed this weeks goings on and I hope to see you all in store very soon.

So long for now.

Oliver.

Hi everyone! It’s been another fantastic week here in Norfolk! We have also hired a new member of staff for the shop! 

My week actually started on Tuesday as I had decided to treat myself to a long weekend. On Tuesday, I was doing my promotional work. I started by writing three articles for the C.Gars cigar library! I have scheduled them to come out weekly with the first one being released on this day. It’s about the Independencia 1898 brand and you can read about it here. After writing all three articles I spent some time taking the pictures for all of them, so they are 100% ready to go! Afterwards, I created all three leaflets for the cigar subscriptions. For this month I have some fantastic cigars including a special edition Cuban in the Premium Cuban and New World Subscription. Towards the end of the day I decided to take a break from the computer and stocked up the Cuban humidor. 

On Thursday, I was back in the shop. I started my day by de-plooming the Cuban cigars, I was then pleasantly interrupted by our latest recruit! His name is Marcus and Thursday was his first day! The first day is usually not that exciting as it is a lot of paperwork but then you are free to learn about cigars! Marcus joined me after lunch and I gave him a tour of both humidors to give him an overview of all the cigars! He is full of so much positive energy, it’s unbelievable! During the humidor tour I showed him an old favourite – Macanudo M by Macanudo Dark Toro, he was blown away by the aroma of chocolate! So much so that he decided to buy one instantly! We then carried on talking about the humidors. Meanwhile I served a lovely gentleman who loves a Maduro cigar. I asked him if he had heard of the Drew Estate Blackened M81 Maduro, of which he had not – I explained how all of the leaves in the cigar was Maduro and he gave one a try instantly. He then asked “what’s new?”. This question always makes me panic as new to me and new to a customer can be different so I have to think what we have received recently. One of the newer cigars was the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Overseas No. 1, I explained about the different tobaccos that make this one cigar and he was blown away. In the end he left a very happy gentleman.

On Friday, it was Marcus’ first full day in the shop. I explained how we serve a customer and the high level in which our customer service will always be. He is a little nervous but he will certainly get there. I remember being incredibly nervous when I first started in the shop but now all these years later I am the most experienced out of anyone in the Norfolk team! Together we served a gentleman who was the best man for a wedding. He wanted 5 cigars for the big day but didn’t want to break the bank as none of them were full time smokers. After discussing different options which would be suitable, he settled on the H. Upmann Majestic as he wanted the traditional Cuban taste. I gave him a nice cigar box to put them in to make them look even more special. As the day went on I was teaching Marcus even more cigar facts. I then taught him how to cut a cigar. I remember my first time, it was with a closed back cutter, so it didn’t give the full experience but now I’m more confident than ever!

On Saturday, I was with Josh and Marcus, this was Marcus’ first Saturday and first time picking! He did very well considering and slowly began to learn where all the cigars were. I served a lovely gentleman from London who always visits whenever he is in Norfolk. He wanted me to promote a cigar to him, I chose my favourite – The Alec Bradley Orchant Seleccion. He liked the sound of it so much he bought 2 Shortys.

I hope you have enjoyed this weeks goings on and I hope to see you all in Norfolk very soon.

So long for now.

Oliver.

Hello everyone! We have had another brilliant week here in Norfolk! We had plenty of customers come through and I also had two trialists come in for me to see if they would be suitable for a role in our shop and packing department.

On Monday, I was in the shop with Will! We started by working our way through an incredible amount of online orders! We worked together to get them all completed. In the afternoon, I went into the parcel booking on department. Sharon does a great job keeping up with the packers, however, when it gets to the afternoon, we get a backlog which I can certainly help with and that also gives Sharon the chance to do parcels that include lighters or gas as they use a different courier. Meanwhile, I served one of our regular customers who does like a variety of cigars but this time he chose a Padron 1926 No. 35 Maduro, I have never seen him have a Padron before but then again he had been coming to this shop since before I worked here! Afterwards, I served another regular gentleman who had recently been to Spain and brought back some cigars for the shop staff to try! They are brands that we can’t get over here, so I can’t wait to try them! He came in to purchase a nice bottle of whisky and a bottle of liqueur for his wife. For himself he chose the C.Gars Malt, he has truly fell in love with this single malt and keeps coming for more. For his wife he chose the Marsette Peruvian Chocolate Essence. I also gave him a sample of the Marsette Premium Whisky Liqueur, this was the stand out drink from our recent spirit training and the customer certainly understood why! He loved it! Unfortunately we didn’t have any full bottles at this moment, but I’ll make sure we do when he comes in next!

On Tuesday, I had a few more interviews to be a part of. It is always interesting meeting new people and seeing if they fit in with our team. In the afternoon, I was doing a trial with a previous interviewee, he did a great job and had lots of enthusiasm. I gave him a brief overview of our roles here and got him to do some small tasks to see how he handled the cigars and more. 

On Thursday, I completed some bits of my promotional work. I started by completing all of the shop newsletters. This months will include our Christmas opening hours. It’s scary to think that Christmas is round the corner! Afterwards, I had another Trialist! Again he was enthusiastic and had plenty of questions. He handled the cigars well and helped stock some shelves. It was hard to choose between them both, but I did make a decision and I can’t wait for you all to meet him!

On Friday, it was stock count day. This included all members of staff counting everything in this building! I was tasked with the New World humidor with Josh, together we got through it in good time. Afterwards we got through as many online order pickings as we could. Whilst this big stock count was happening, we were still open to the public. I served a lovely couple who were doing their Christmas shopping early! They were looking for a couple of bottles of whisky as well as a few cigars. I let them browse our spirits as I don’t like to overbear when customers are looking, after a little bit I asked if I could help but in truth they didn’t need it. They chose our own Stalla Dhu Speyside as well as a Kilkerran Heavily Peated Batch No.7 and then looked in the humidors. The gentleman mentioned how he liked darker cigars and so I suggested the Foundation The Wise Man Maduro Robusto as it has slowly became one of my favourites, he listened but decided against it but did go for the Charter Oak Broadleaf Lonsdale, another great cigar from Foundation. His wife decided to treat him to a Kristoff Original Maduro Robusto Tubed. They left very happy and I enjoyed serving them.

On Saturday, I was working with Josh and Will! They both picked online orders whilst I finished off my newsletters and wrote this blog of course! I served a lovely gentleman who had travelled over an hour to visit. He treated himself to a Highclere Castle Victorian Robusto – He mentioned how originally one was bought for him as a joke due to him watching Downton Abbey, but then when he tried it he really enjoyed it! He then mentioned how he enjoys all of the Foundation range due to an event he attended in Norfolk, where he met George Frakes from 1573 Cigars – The supplier of Foundation cigars in the UK. He said George explained all of the ranges brilliantly and enjoyed the cigars provided. He also picked up both the Drew Estate Blackened M81 Maduro Corona and S84 Shade to Black Corona. We discussed how we were both excited to see them launch in the UK and we both purchased them as soon as we could. It’s great when someone shares the same feelings on cigars.

I hope you have enjoyed this weeks going on in Norfolk and I hope to see you all really soon.

So long for now.

Oliver.

Hello everyone! It has been a rather interesting week in Norfolk to say the least! We had a technical issue with our till system, which affected us all week! But that doesn’t affect our level of service and we always find a way to serve our brilliant customers!

On Monday, I was in the shop with Will! Josh was treating himself to a week off and so I was joined by Will – However it was Lisa and I picking the cigar orders. Together we got through them incredibly fast (with the help of the rest of the team). Afterwards, I spent some time stocking up the Cuban humidor and helping Lisa order her Cuban Stock.

Tuesday was my promotional day. I sat in the shop next to Will – He is still in training when it comes to shop tasks and so I was there to guide him, but not get too involved. Firstly, I concentrated on starting all of the shop’s October newsletters. All of the stores have improved massively on their content recently, I have to say i’m very impressed. Afterwards, I wrote an article for the C.Gars cigar library all about El Septimo cigars, which you can read here. I spent some time taking the pictures too. Meanwhile, I also wrote a news article about the absolutely stunning ST Dupont Lighter – Le Grand – Cohiba Behike 15th Anniversary. It is a beautiful lighter, but due to how shiny it is, it was difficult to get a good picture of it – But I got there in the end – What do you think? 

Meanwhile, I was helping Will perfect his tasks. I taught him how to stock up and write the tags for our pipes! He seemed to enjoy it and did a very good job. Later on, I was given some CV’s to look through for our next retail employee! Porscha has recently accepted a new role in our office, listing new products as well as adding new stock onto our till system. I wish her the best of luck, but I am sad to see her leave our department. But we move on and we welcome a new face into our close knitted team. I have organised some interviews for next week and I look forward to meeting them all.

On Thursday, I was back in the shop. Will had his first solo day in the shop on Wednesday and left me a lovely note to ask if he had done a good job. I can say with confidence… He did. Of course there were little bits he missed, but overall he did an excellent job. Because he did such an excellent job, it made my job easier. I served a lovely semi-regular customer – he has fairly recently changed from Cuban cigars to New World and is enjoying the experience. As always he likes to try something new, so I suggested the Foundation Charter Oak Shade Petit Corona. He then wanted one more, so as always I suggested the Alec Bradley Orchant Seleccion Skinny. I can’t wait to see him again to see if he enjoyed them. 

On Friday, I was in the shop again. Firstly I had a meeting with our HR manager to discuss the upcoming interviews, she explained the kind of things we should be looking for from a candidate. It was very interesting to hear. Afterwards, I came back and was greeted by an email from our content manager with a brilliant piece of news! Dominique London And Tang Tobacco To Open A Flagship La Casa Del Habano On Pall Mall! There has been a full press release which you can read here! It certainly is an exciting time for this company and one to be proud of. I uploaded that onto the C.Gars cigar library as quickly as I could for everyone to read. I served a lovely couple who were on holiday. They had mentioned how they had been to our stores in Chester and Leeds and enjoyed them both – I like to call visiting our other stores the “Tour de Dominique London” as it would be great to visit each store and see each one’s uniqueness. The gentleman said his favourite cigar was a Perdomo Lot 23, which unfortunately, we cannot get in the UK, however he did treat himself to the 10th Anniversary Epicure as well as the CLE Asylum 13 Ogre Toro Gordo, the Gurkha Nicaraguan Toro Blue Sampler Pack. The gentleman’s wife then pointed out the Casa Turrent 1880 Series Double Robusto Claro and said he should try that, and so he did. 

On Saturday, I was joined by Will and Porscha! We got through the online order pickings incredibly fast and then got on with our own individual tasks. Porscha was packing online orders, whilst Will started stocking up both humidors. I then taught Will how to do price tags for the cigars. Afterwards we created a new display to show an incredible offer we have online and in store – The Yamazaki 12 Year Old 100th Anniversary has been reduced from £199 to £99! This is an incredible reduction of £100 but it’s only whilst stocks last so get yours now!

I hope you enjoyed this week’s goings on and I hope to see you all in Norfolk soon.

So long for now.

Oliver.