A lounge membership is recurring money from the people who already sit in your chairs. Done well, it smooths out slow months and gives your regulars a reason to buy their boxes from you. Done loosely, it turns into a group text, a whiteboard and a reminder you feel weird sending. Here are the decisions, in the order to make them.
1. Decide what the membership sells
Lounges with published memberships mostly sell one of three things:
- A locker. The locker is the membership. BURN, Long Island Cigar, Silver Leaf and Cigar Life all work this way. It's the easiest thing to explain.
- Savings. A discount on everything, sometimes with part of the dues coming back as store credit. The pitch is that it pays for itself.
- Access. Members-only hours, events and a place to bring people. This is closer to a private club, and the price goes up with it.
Most lounges end up mixing two. Pick the one you lead with, because it decides the price.
2. Set the price
These are typical prices from lounges' own published pages, split by the kind of lounge.
| Type of lounge | Monthly entry | Annual entry | With a locker, per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Everyday lounge | $80 | $349 | $960 |
| Upscale lounge or private club | $150 | $1,100 | $2,000 |
| All lounges in the research | $100 | $600 | About $1,280 |
Each is the middle price (the median) from each lounge's own website, read September 14, 2026. Ranges and how many lounges publish each price are in the full pricing guide.
What to do with those numbers:
- Keep it to two or three tiers. An entry tier, a tier with the locker, and maybe an out-of-town tier. Every extra tier is a conversation at the counter.
- Offer annual, and make it the better deal. Annual dues up front carry you through slow months.
- Skip the initiation fee. Only 4 of the 39 lounges publish one.
3. Pick the perks
How many of the 39 lounges list each perk on their membership page:
- Cigar discount, 82%. Usually 10% on singles and 15 to 20% on boxes. Members expect this one.
- Member events, 72%. Tastings, brand nights, an annual dinner.
- Guest privileges, 59%. Covered in step 5.
- Dues returned as credit, 26%. Part or all of the fee comes back to spend in the shop.
- After-hours access, 18%. Usually with a fob or a code.
Pick perks that cost you little and bring members back through the door. A discount on boxes and a monthly event do both.
4. Decide how lockers work
Lounges price lockers three ways, and they land at very different numbers:
- The reason for the upper tier. The most common setup. The gap between otherwise identical tiers shows what the locker is worth to members.
- An add-on. Typically $240 a year (5 lounges). Cheap on purpose, because the membership is the real product.
- Sold on its own. Typically about $1,190 a year (8 lounges), at lounges that are otherwise open to the public.
Whatever you pick, write down who holds each locker, who else is allowed in it and what's on the shelf. That list goes stale fast. More on that in locker management.
5. Write the guest rule
Decide these before opening night, so your bartender isn't the one deciding:
- How many guests a member can bring per visit.
- Whether extra guests pay, or use passes the member buys.
- Whether a guest can come back without the member, and how many times before you invite them to join.
A few lounges charge $5 to $15 per guest instead of including any. Check your local liquor license rules too, especially if members bring their own bottles. The mechanics are in guest passes and check-in.
6. Launch with founders
The strongest launches in the research sell a founding tier with a hard cap. The Bay Cigar Lounge sells its first 50 founders at $3,000 for year one and $1,000 a year after, and shows how many spots are left. The Drawing Room in Pittsburgh ties a limited-run engraved locker to its founding tier.
Start with your regulars. Offer them the founding rate before you post it anywhere, and let them bring the next few in.
7. Collect dues without chasing
Put the terms in writing: what the dues cover, when they renew, what happens if a payment fails, and the locker and guest rules. Have members accept it when they join.
Then take dues automatically, by card or bank draft, so nobody has to ask. Around 30 members, a spreadsheet and Venmo stop keeping up. When you look at software, check three things:
- Does it know about lockers and guests, or just payments?
- Can your staff look a member up at the bar in a few seconds?
- Is it a flat price, with no percentage taken from your dues?
Parlor does all three, set up around your lounge's tiers, lockers and guest rule, with your lounge's name on it. You work directly with the person who built it, from setup on.