Downtown State College shop to expand offerings with in-store wine bar

Downtown State College’s Your Cigar Den already appeals to cigar smokers, but owner Tony Ghaffari is hoping to offer customers another way to unwind.

The shop at 127 S. Fraser St. will host a grand opening celebration Thursday for its new in-store wine bar. It starts with a ribbon cutting ceremony at noon, followed by a wine tasting celebration at 6 p.m.

Ghaffari teamed up with Lewistown-based Hawstone Hollow Winery to provide a variety of wines for customers to purchase at the shop.

Ghaffari met the owner of Hawstone Hollow Winery at a cigar rolling event, and they decided to collaborate in order to expand their customer bases.

“We sell their wine here. That way they gain a location in downtown State College, and I can attract a different customer base,” he said.

Ghaffari described his usual customer base as being extremely broad, but is hoping to attract more female customers.

“Less women smoke, so I thought if I offered them a glass of wine to drink while their husbands or significant other has a cigar, then the Den would become more attractive to them,” Ghaffari said.

The wines can only be bought by the bottle. Your Cigar Den also offers both glasses and corkscrews upon arrival.

“The only thing our customers would have to bring is themselves,” Ghaffari said.

Thursday’s celebration features appetizers, wine tasting of Hawstone Hollow Winery’s best selling wines, and a raffle to win a mini wine refrigerator.

Ghaffari is eager to get started, and hopes to see many new faces tomorrow at the grand opening.

“We are really looking forward to beginning another chapter for the Den, and I really think it’s going to be successful,” Ghaffari said.

This story was originally published May 29, 2019 at 5:06 PM.