Cigars International Plans St. Louis Area Store

Cigars International, the largest cigar retailer in the world, is planning a new store in Chesterfield, Mo., about 20 miles west of downtown St. Louis.

The new store will be located at 16839 N. Outer 40 Road, inside of a shopping district called The District, which includes a Top Golf location. Per records shared with the City of Chesterfield, the new location will include 6,800 square feet of indoor space and another 1,250 square feet of outdoor space. Sarah Santos, president of Cigars International, told halfwheel that the new store is slated for a Q4 2025 opening.

Like the other Cigars International Superstore locations, it will have a large walk-in humidor, full bar and seating areas inside.

In 2022, Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG)—the parent company of Cigars International—announced that it planned to add 6-8 new stores by 2025. This would be the fifth new location to be announced since then.

The full list of Cigars International stores is as follows:

• Jacksonville, Fla.*
• Lutz, Fla.
• Tampa, Fla.
• Chesterfield, Mo.*
• Bethlehem, Pa.
• Bethlehem, Pa. (Downtown)
• Hamburg, Pa.
• South Fayette, Pa.*
• The Colony, Texas
• Conroe, Texas
• Fort Worth, Texas
• Katy, Texas
• San Antonio, Texas

*Not yet open.

This particular location is unique for a couple of reasons. First, St. Louis will join Tampa and Dallas as the third city where Cigars International and JR Cigar/Casa de Montecristo, its closest competitor, both have locations. That said, the JR Cigar store in St. Louis is an independently-owned franchise store. STG also owns Club Macanudo in New York City, where there is also a Casa de Montecristo location.

Second, this new store is less than a mile away from LIT Cigar Lounge, an existing cigar store.

STG also owns General Cigar Co. and Forged Cigar Co., which sell Cohiba, La Gloria Cubana, Partagas and other brands in the U.S. In both the U.S. and international markets, STG sells Agio, Alec Bradley, CAO, Macanudo, Room101 and Toraño—all of which are owned by the company. In an interview with West Newsmagazine, Brian Snyder, owner of LIT Cigar Lounge, pointed out that this means one of the store’s vendors will soon be its closest competitor.

While the physical Cigars International stores remain a key growth area for STG, the business is best known for its online and catalog sales. As part of its omnichannel retail approach, STG also owns Thompson Cigar, Cigar Bid, Cigar.com, and Pipes and Cigars.

Update — Clarified that the JR Cigar store in St. Louis is a franchise store.