by Kirby Lindsay, posted 16 September 2011
On September 23rd, 24th & 25th, the 2011 Fremont Oktoberfest will celebrate the season – without a Fremont Cigar booth, for those looking to buy quality cigars or sneak a smoke between microbrew samplings.
After being told they would not be allowed to vend at Oktoberfest, all Adil and Gina Filali, the owners of Fremont Cigar, can hope is that customers Adil cultivated during the last five Oktoberfests will trek the five blocks northeast to their small store. They remain very concerned, as the 2010 Fremont Oktoberfest booth sales kept their new business afloat last winter. They’re also very disappointed.
At Cross Purposes
This summer, Gina went on-line to register as a vendor for the festival and couldn’t find a form on the website. “That was strange,” she observed. She tried to contact Bold Hat Productions, the company that organizes Oktoberfest on behalf of the Fremont Chamber of Commerce, and didn’t get an answer. So she called Jessica Vets, Executive Director for the Chamber.
“Jessica told us that Bold Hat had gotten a big corporate cigar sponsor,” Gina Filali said, “and they didn’t want the competition.” With that their income – and exposure – disappeared. “I was so discouraged after getting off the phone, Oktoberfest is a huge one for us,” Gina admitted, “we’ve always gotten customers coming in that saw us there, that know Adil.”
“Our membership was up last month,” Gina said about the Fremont Chamber, “and we are not going to renew. We don’t feel supported.” Fremont Cigar joined the Chamber, shortly after opening in March of 2010, “because we need that support, that community.” Now, they don’t intend to re-join, “unless there is a serious change.”
“It’s unfortunate that she feels that way,” Vets responded, to the Fremocentrist, “the Chamber does support businesses in a lot of ways. We try to accommodate our members as much as we can.”
“The Fremont Chamber brings events to the community,” Vets explained, and “that is how we are supporting the small businesses. That’s how we put Fremont on the map. We want to make Fremont a new neighborhood that people put on their shopping agenda.”
“Events are extremely expensive to operate,” Vets pointed out, “When we get big sponsors, we have to take them. We have gotten sponsors that are willing to pay a lot of money to be exclusive at these events.” Festivals draw attention to the community, and the great business district located here, she said, and “it is more important to us to maintain the [Fremont Street] Fair and the Oktoberfest.”
Vets mentioned other ways the Chamber supports small businesses – like Fremont Cigar. The Chamber holds a monthly retail meeting, Vets has provided marketing advice, and the Fremont First Friday Art Walk (which Fremont Cigar participates in) receives some funding from a Chamber grant. “It’s unfortunate that they feel they are not supported,” Vets stated.
Where’s The Booth?
“I like Jessica; she’s very nice,” Gina Filali insisted, “We’ve always gone to the Chamber when we had a problem with Bold Hat.” The company also organizes the Fremont Fair for the Chamber and, in 2010, “we had a booth there,” she explained. Fremont Cigar asked to be inside a beer garden, to reach their adult customer base. Bold Hat didn’t do that, she recalled, but “they said they’d try to do better this year.”
Days before the 2011 Fair, Adil walked the fairgrounds to check their assigned location, and thought it much, much worse. Also, they were told, they could not sell cigarettes. “First, he was told we couldn’t because it was a ‘family’ event, but Adil kept asking questions…” Eventually, Gina reported, “I was told Camel was a sponsor,” and even though Fremont Cigar sells Camel products, Bold Hat had agreed to give Camel exclusive cigarette vending rights.
The Filalis asked for a refund on the Fair, and got it – saving themselves the $520 fee charged for their 10 x 10 booth. They lost the exposure, but they admit that the Fair doesn’t bring them much business. It is Oktoberfest, where they paid $650 for their booth in 2010, that they really wanted to do again.
This would have been Adil Filali’s sixth year at Oktoberfest, where he steadily built a reputation as a fine cigar vendor. For four years he worked that booth as an employee of Smoke Plus. When they opened Fremont Cigar, Adil’s past employer supported their taking over the booth, and helped them cover the fee.
The booth rates take a big bite from small businesses, but not having a booth can hurt more, particularly when they may lose foot traffic. “The [Fremont Arts Council] Solstice Parade brings us a lot of people,” Gina reported, “but on Sunday [of the Fair] not so much.” As for store regulars, she said, “we have a lot of people avoiding Fremont during those events.”
Serious Change
“There has got to be some kind of compromise,” Gina suggested, “between small businesses and big corporate businesses. [Bold Hat] could get more small sponsors, but they go for the bigger checks because it takes fewer,” she said, “it defeats the whole purpose of the event.” As a business owner, she knows profit must be part of any enterprise, yet she thinks a Chamber of Commerce should support member businesses as well as their bottom line. “I think Chamber members should have first opportunity at a booth,” she stated, “at being represented.”
“I would like to talk with other business owners,” Gina asked, and would welcome a sharing of their experiences. She’s asked other small businesses, and/or vendors, to contact her, or Adil, at Fremont Cigar. “I’d like to challenge the Chamber about how they organize their events,” she said.
“We want to be part of the Chamber,” she admitted, “but they haven’t had our backs.”
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©2011 Kirby Lindsay. This column is protected by intellectual property laws, including U.S. copyright laws. Reproduction, adaptation or distribution without permission is prohibited.