A Day in the Life of a Retail Assistant #31 
Hi everyone! Another great week has passed as many customers came in to get their favourite cigars and try our latest releases.
On Monday we were busy with plenty of online orders to be picked which took us most of the day, despite the weather going a little bit cooler and windy (at least here in Norfolk it is), plenty of people are still enjoying their favourite smokes. In the store we had a lovely gentleman who wanted to purchase his first pipe – In this situation, we tend to suggest getting a less expensive pipe as you may not enjoy it but you haven’t lost out too much. I tend to suggest Parker pipes as they are a low-budget but well-made pipe. Once he had chosen his pipe, we talked about different tobacco. I always suggest American Blends as it isn’t the strongest, is full of flavour and smells great! He chose the C&V Blend which is Cherry and Vanilla flavoured, I hope he enjoyed it and we will see him again.
On Tuesday I began work on my latest article all about My Father Cigars and I didn’t realise the history behind them despite the brand only being official since 2003! I spent the day researching, writing and then taking pictures, you can read the article here. In the meantime we had a regular who likes to purchase plenty of cigars, he treated himself to some Davidoff Escurios and wanted something different, so I suggested the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Sobremesa Brulee Robusto as it was new and had huge fanfare! He also purchased the amazing Colibri Quantum Triple Flame Lighter, an unbelievably reliable lighter with a built-in cutter!
On Wednesday I finished all of our shop’s newsletters ready to send out to their local supporters, I always find it interesting to see what our other shops are up to and they sound so fascinating! Sharon and I also spent some time with our newest recruit Robyn. She has recently started part-time working in our packing team but she will be learning the shop aspect too to give us a helping hand now and then. It is always hard learning retail especially in the cigar industry with many strengths and flavour notes to remember but I’m sure she will learn it very fast.
On Thursday, a customer came in wanting to buy a bottle of our Stalla Dhu range as a gift for his father’s birthday. He was unsure which one to get, so he ended up purchasing two 3x5cl gift sets. A great idea and a way to find out his father’s favourite. I also spent most of my day with our humidor supervisor Billy counting the New World humidor stock and again I think we did it in record time! It seemed like a breeze and even left me enough time to write another article and news piece about the new Puffin rooms in Edinburgh! Have you heard about it yet? It sounds truly amazing! Click here to read all about it.
On Friday I put the finishing touches on my shop newsletters and spent a bit more time with Robyn helping her with her cigar knowledge. In the afternoon it was the weekly Cuban stock take with Sharon.
I hope you have enjoyed this week’s goings-on and I hope to see you all in Norfolk soon.
So long for now,
Olly 🙂
