(888) 900 0205Insurance For Cigar & Tobacco Shops
Running a cigar and tobacco shop comes with its own set of risks. You’re dealing with high-value inventory, specialized products, and customers who expect a certain experience. Having the right business insurance in place helps you cover your bases when it comes to accidents, theft, and even legal issues. Let’s go over the types of coverage you should consider for your business.
General Liability Insurance for Cigar & Tobacco Shops
General Liability (GL) insurance is a must for cigar and tobacco shops. It covers you in case someone gets hurt in your store or if there’s damage to a customer’s property while they’re there. It also helps protect your business from legal claims related to advertising or personal injury.
Key Coverages Under GL:
- Each Occurrence: If a customer slips and falls on your shop floor, this coverage helps pay for their medical expenses or legal claims.
- Damage to Rented Premises: If you rent your space and an accidental fire damages the building, this helps cover repairs.
- Medical Expenses: Covers immediate medical costs for any injuries that happen in your store, like if someone accidentally trips over a display and gets hurt.
- Personal and Advertising Injury: Protects you if someone sues for slander or libel, including claims related to your marketing.
- General Aggregate: This is the total amount your insurance will pay for all claims during the policy period.
- Products/Completed Operations: Covers claims that arise from the products you sell. For instance, if a customer sues claiming they were harmed by a faulty lighter or tobacco product, this kicks in.
Business Owners Policy (BOP)
A business owners policy is designed to let you pick and choose the exact types of coverage that are most appropriate for the type of business you operate. A business owners policy, or BOP, includes general liability automatically and can include one or more of the following types of coverage:
- Equipment Breakdown – If your cigar humidifiers stop working or your store air conditioning breaks, a BOP can take care of the costs to repair or replace them for you.
- Buildings and Contents – If your retail establishment catches on fire or is damaged in a severe storm, paying for the repairs out of business funds might not be possible. A BOP can cover the structures themselves, various improvements you’ve made, and interior contents such as your furnishings and inventory.
- Business Income and Extra Expense – When accidents and disasters happen, the damages caused can force you to suspend business operations for weeks or months. A BOP can protect you from that loss of income or help with extra expenses.
- Products and Completed Operations (Included in General Liability) – Some of the non-tobacco related products that you sell can cause customers harm in the future. For example, a batch of disposable lighters could be found faulty. A BOP can be designed to help protect you from liability in cases like this if they arise in the future.
- Valuable Papers Protection – Some critical papers are kept in physical form and they can be expensive to replace. For example, your tobacco license or other regulatory documentation could be destroyed in a fire.
- Employee Dishonesty Coverage – Dishonest actions from employees is responsible for an estimated $400 billion in losses annually. Protect your company from fraud, monetary theft, and theft of tangible assets in your cigar shop.
Workers' Compensation for Cigar & Tobacco Shops
Even in a small shop, employees can get hurt on the job. Workers' Compensation insurance covers medical bills and lost wages if an employee is injured while working. Whether it’s a back strain from lifting heavy boxes of inventory or a fall while stocking shelves, workers’ comp helps protect both your employees and your business.
Claim Example: An employee trips while carrying a box of cigars, spraining their ankle. Workers' compensation pays for their medical treatment and helps cover lost wages during their recovery.