Cigars International Plans Jacksonville Store for 2023

Cigars International, the world’s largest retailer of cigars, is planning on opening up a new store in Jacksonville, Fla. next year.

The company has plans to build a new ground-up storefront at 4906 Town Center Pkwy. in Jacksonville. This location will be like the company’s other Superstore locations and will include 6,400-square-feet of retail space inside and more than 2,000-square-feet of patio space. Cigars International Superstores include large walk-in humidors and a full bar. Previously, the company has said that these new stores cost between $4-7 million to open.

Sarah Santos, president of Cigars International, told halfwheel that the company hopes to open the store in the second half of 2023. Interestingly, this is the only store the company has planned for the market at this time. In recent years, Cigars International has typically entered a new market with a pair of stores.

Earlier this year, Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG)—the parent company of Cigars International—announced that it planned to add 6-8 new stores by 2025. At that time, Cigars International had six Superstores open—two each in Florida, Pennsylvania and Texas—and a seventh, San Antonio, had been announced. Since then, the company has announced two new Superstores in the greater Houston area—Conroe, which could open in December; and Katy, which will open in early 2023—and now the Jacksonville location. That would bring the total Superstore locations to 10; Cigars International also operates an additional retail location in Hamburg, Pa. that is not a Superstore concept.

The company has also filed for plans that could eventually add a retail store to its to-be-completed Bethlehem, Pa. headquarters building, but Santos previously told halfwheel that the focus was to build the headquarters part of the building and that the opening of that retail store was “TBD.”

Cigars International is the world’s largest retailer of cigars and is part of a massive omnichannel retail operation owned by STG. In addition to Cigars International—which is best known for its online and catalog business—STG also owns Thompson Cigar, Cigar Bid, Cigar.com, Pipes and Cigars, and Club Macanudo.

Previously, STG said that North American online and retail sales accounted for 32 percent of the company’s revenue in 2021—DKK 2.63 billion ($385 million at the time)—and 21 percent of its EBITDA before special items, a measure of profit. In that same period, STG said its online sales were responsible for 94 percent of its retail revenue.