Cigarette Price War Resumes?

Back in early 2015, I wrote about a cigarette price war taking place on lower Avenue A. By April, as if on cue, all participating stores had taken down their cigarette-price signs!

Fast forward to June 2016, and this forgotten-beloved store on East 9th Street:

Forgotten, but beloved.

This is what it looks like inside now:

Inside.

But that's not why I'm writing this. If you look above the ATM in the top picture, you will see two signs.

Here is a close-up:

Close-up.

Why did they only advertised Marlboros and Parliaments? And why did they separate the red Marlboro pack from the other Marlboro packs? And, since all the prices are the same, why not put them all on one sheet, horizontally, with one price?

You know, this isn't a story about cigarette price wars, this is a story about bad execution!

#eastvillage #9thstreet #atms #cigarettes #pricewar #signs

Cigarette Price War — Day 116

It's Day 116 in the Avenue A Cigarette Price War, and the competition shows no sign of letting up!

I walked by the competing stores this morning on my way to work, and saw that Avenue A Classic Food, the newcomer cigarette-price upstart, had removed their cigarette price sign:

Cigarette price sign removed.

It was only eleven short days ago that their sign advertised their new low price — now, nothing.

Ray's Candy Store, directly next door, still has no sign up, since taking theirs down sign last December:

Cigarette signless since December.

That leaves Kasadoro (formerly Sahara) Deli-Grocery as the only store on this block advertising cigarettes, and they've come down $0.50!

Cigarettes $12.00.

Where will it end?! Stay tuned… to the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #avenuea #avenueaclassicfood #rayscandystore #kasadorodeligrocery #cigarettes

Cigarette Price-War Update

The Avenue A cigarette price-war took a new turn recently, when Avenue A Classic Food lowered their price from $12.00 to $11.95:

Cigarettes $11.95.

Here is a close-up:

Close-up.

I don't know if there's a vitamin water price-war too — I'll keep my eyes open!

Cheap cigarettes and vitamin water… in the East Village Today!

New Twist in Avenue A Cigarette Price War

A new twist has emerged in the Avenue A cigarette price wars!

For a quick update: read this.

I was walking up Avenue A the other day, when I saw this:

Cigarettes 12.50.

The Sahara Deli, a little further up Avenue A from Rays and Classic Food, now sells cigarettes for $12.50!

I'm sure they're not trying to position themselves between Ray's and Classic Food, as the moderate alternative. They probably see their customers as coming down from St. Mark's Place rather than up from East 7th Street, and willing to spend the extra 50¢ to save the time and effort of walking through the derelict section of Avenue A, to the end of the block:

Derelict section of Avenue A, below Sahara Deli.

It's funny, the thinking that goes into something like pricing cigarettes… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #avenuea #avenueaclassicfood #cigarettes #rayscandystore #saharadeli

The Price War Has Begun

I was walking up Avenue A this morning when I saw that the newly-opened store, Avenue A Classic Food, had their window full of signs:

Window full of signs, and cigarettes.

Who is going to stand there and read all of that?!

But then I saw it — the sign at the bottom/center:

All cigarette $12.

The price war has begun!

As you may remember, Ray's Candy Store, which is right next door, sells cigarettes for $13:

This picture is from November 23.

Today, Ray's window looked like this:

The cigarette sign is gone, but they now sell quesadillas!

This is the kind of competition East Villagers love — "I'm not going to pay a lot for this… pack of cigarettes!"

#eastvillage #rayscandystore #avenuea #avenueaclassicfood #cigarettes