Page 36 - TOB Magazine Jan/Feb 2013

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TOBACCO OUTLET BUSINESS
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
trench marketing
Mainely Tobacco
Cigaret Shopper didn’t become one of the best tobacconists in the state
of Maine by accident—but a lucky mistake helped open the door when
opportunity came knocking.
By Michael Gelfand
Maine is a bipolar state. During
the summer months, its coastal
corridor bustles with commerce
and tourism, and life is postcard perfect.
Maine’s winter, however, is long and cruel,
arriving early and staying late to make life
for the locals a bit harsh. Sounds a lot like the
tobacco industry—things are great when the
climate is agreeable,but challenging when the
gale-force winds are blowing in your face.
Maine’s seasonal volatility has not had
much of an affect on Cigaret Shopper, a
popular tobacco retail chain whose footprint
has grown over the years to span most of
Maine’s coast. While not as ubiquitous as
lobster shacks,ice creamhuts and outlet stores
alongRoute 1,Cigaret Shopper seems tohave
a location everywhere you turn “downeast,”
ranging from Portland to Calais and
Matawaska on the far northern border with
Canada and many locations in between. “In
2007, we had seven retail locations, and now
we have 17,” says Chris Beaulier, the chain’s
director of retail operations.
Beaulier, who wears many hats at Cigaret
Shopper—he handles everything from HR,
staffing, hiring, scheduling, presentation
display, inventory flow and control,
merchandise assortment, and pricing—says
his stores’ different sizes have an inherently
obvious but nonetheless meaningful impact.
“Our typical store is about 1,400 square feet,
but our stores range anywhere from 1,000 to
2,000 square feet,and in those larger stores we
carry a much deeper SKU assortment.” For
example, his four largest stores accommodate
walk-in humidors, while the rest only host
four-foot, reach-in cabinets for cigars. “Along
with cigarettes,we carry Swisher and Swedish
cigars, many imported, premium, hand-
rolled cigars and filtered cigars, as well as
cigarette rolling tobacco, pipe cut tobacco and
traditional pipe tobacco,” he says. “Cigarette
sales represent about half of sales overall, then
probably 30 percent is rolling tobacco—pipe
cut and traditional cigarette—and the rest
is divvied up among cigars, beer, chips and
snacks.”