Cigar Insider: Mike McCarthy of MJM Fine Cigars

In three years, Mike McCarthy has built his cigar shop in Palm Harbor, Florida, into a premiere spot that both customers and manufacturers respect and admire. In a highly competitive arena – at least four more shops are within easy driving distance, numerous other nearby outlets carry premium cigars, and then there’s the seemingly endless array of Internet sellers – his focus is on cigars.

At MJM Fine Cigars, the store is the humidor, and the walls are lined with hundreds and hundreds of facings from scores of manufacturers. It is the kind of selection some smokers can only dream of.

When you talk to Mike, his passion quickly becomes apparent. He talks about constantly reading, researching, and evaluating new ideas to improve his operation. He’d like to see cigar sites and blogs do more promotion for local shops and put less emphasis on Internet prices. Otherwise, he said, “one of these days, there are going to be no local guys left.”

He said he’s well aware that trying to compete on price alone is a poor business plan. No matter how low you go, there’s always someone willing to go lower: “If you’re going to play the pricing game, you’re going to lose every time.”

His philosophy is centered on having what cigar smokers – newcomers and sophisticates alike – are looking for and on treating them well when they visit his shop in a strip center on busy U.S. 19 north of Clearwater.

“What’s made me successful,” Mike explained, “is romancing these cigars and getting guys to try different things…Why anybody would want to open a shop and sell the same old stuff is beyond me.”

Mike’s also not interested in expanding the small seating area, with a TV, at the front of the store. His plans for renovation and expansion are aimed at creating more space to showcase additional premium sticks.

“Hey, man, if you’re a cigar dude, you want it. You read the magazines and you want to find something different…you’ve got a better chance than not of finding it here. You want the same old stuff, bro, you can go anywhere,” he said.

Another hallmark of Mike’s shop is a monthly cigar event, where he’s presented top industry figures like Pepin Garcia. An avid pipe smoker, Mike also custom blends tobaccos and carries an impressive array of high-end pipes. He hosts monthly meetings of the Bay Area Pipe Guild at MJM.

His experience in the business goes back more than 25 years when he worked at a cigar shop while attending college. He was in and out of the trade over the years and got back full-time by opening MJM in 2004.

One of the most important things he’s learned, he said, is to focus on the “average guy.”
To that end, Mike said he tries to use common sense and rely on his own experiences.

“I think the average guy wants to have a good selection, wants to be treated fairly, he wants to be remembered when he comes in,” he said. “Charge him a fair price, have some events, throw him a bone every now and then, and he’s happy. I consider myself an average guy.”

But he’s got a store that’s way above average.

–George E

Tags: cigars