Upmarket drinks plan for select cigar shop

RETAIL MARKET:IT WAS WINSTON Churchill's trademark. Fidel has been a life-long champion. Lou Grade was rarely seen without one. Oliver St John Gogarty was an aficionado. And the ever-enduring Sir Jimmy Saville smokes them to this day.

They are cigars, the stock-in-trade of JJ Fox Ltd, one of Ireland's oldest cigar merchants, at 119 Grafton Street, Dublin 2, across the street from Trinity College.

Established 128 years ago by the Fox family in Dublin, there's another and larger branch at St James's in London, now regarded as probably the oldest cigar shop in the British capital. While selling cigars, snuff and pipe tobacco has been the main business of the Dublin shop, a small line of very select whiskies, brandies and champagnes has been on offer for several years.

But JJ Fox is about to expand its drinks section and planning permission has been sought from Dublin City Council for the refurbishment of the listed building to "bring it up to speed with what one would expect to find in the capital city", according to managing director David McGrane.

"We are staying here where we have been selling fine Havanas since 1880 and we are going to introduce fine whiskies, rums and vodkas. Very select wines also. It entails having to get a licence," he says.

The proposed new shop will encompass 62sq m (670sq ft) of retail space, when completed.

"We are refurbishing the shop - it's a nice shop - and we've put a lot of thought into the design. It's complementary to the building as well as to our products. We have applied to remove facia boards and make it more glass-orientated. There will be security glass that will leave the shop visible all day and night. Parisian blinds will be on the doors and it will be very attractive," he says.

It is not, he says, another off-licence, acknowledging that the proliferation of off-licences of late has got this business a bad press.

The proposal is in line with Dublin City Council's aim to rejuvenate Grafton Street and make the street more user-friendly. "Dublin needs a few premium shops and indigenous shops," McGrane says.

In a retail sector under siege, how have companies like JJ Fox been faring?

"Demand for the more mundane cigars has dropped; the premium cigars have maintained their sales.

"Restaurants still stock cigars, although initially (after the smoking ban) they stopped. Dublin is a niche market that isn't really catered for. Cigars and whiskey go together. There has always been that tie-up. The corporate side has reduced an awful lot because of the smoking ban."

But it's not just a local market.

"We have a lot of tourists, every day of the week. We get e-mails from around the world. We are selling humidors and cigar cases."

Americans, who cannot buy Cuban cigars at home, are big customers, as are Italians - "they're great pipe smokers", he adds.

McGrane says people go to JJ Fox because of their professionalism in cigars. "We have most of what's available in Cuba. We can advise on taste and quality, which you don't get when you walk into a shop nowadays."

Cigars are sourced from Cuba to Ballaghaderreen in Co Roscommon, where cigars are made by the Swiss company, Villiger. But, he says: "The romantic image of Havanas has a mystique attached to it." Prices start from €1 and go up to €50 per cigar.

Dubliner McGrane is an accountant, although not one of the Fox family, who still maintain their connection with the firm as directors.

"We're into the new century. We want to go on for another 128 years," he insists.