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TOBACCO BUSINESS
MARCH/APRIL 2014
Curnett threw herself into her job, learning everything she
could about the business and the store’s customers from her
boss. However, the tobacco industry was already undergoing
sea changes, and the job she fell in love with had lost its allure
for her mentor. “He approached me a year later and asked
me to buy the store myself or help him shut it down,” she
recalls. “I couldn’t let it go, it was near and dear to my heart,
so I took the step up, signed the paperwork in September of
2012, and things have been cruising right along ever since.”
Today Curnett is the owner of J.C. Tobacco Mart, a
thriving tobacco outlet located in Panama City, Florida
with five employees (four of whom are full-time) including
Curnett’s husband, who helps with tracking and fine-tuning
inventory, and their 19-year-old son. Like most owners of
small businesses, Curnett’s fingers are in everything. “I’m
responsible for scheduling and marketing, and I do all of
the budgets, all of the reports, speak with the accountants,
and generally make sure everyone’s happy,” she says. Her
store manager, Linda Avella, handles the bulk of ordering,
but Curnett oversees and approves the orders before they
are finalized.
RYO Remains the Heart and Soul
The store is 2,000 square feet and divided into two sections.
“One side is purely retail-oriented, housing our lottery and fax
machines, along with a wide variety of cartons and bags of
tobacco,” says Curnett. The other side serves as the “rolling
room,” and also hosts miscellaneous products like the high-
end pipes and e-cigarettes, including disposable, cartridge
and liquid kits, she says. “The store carries everything
from cigarettes to dry snuff in cans, little plugs of tobacco,
and cumberland twists. I’ve got dry snuff in cans to tuck in
trench marketing
“The store carries everything from cigarettes to dry snuff in cans,
little plugs of tobacco, and cumberland twists. I’ve got dry snuff in
cans to tuck in your cheek, I carry hookahs and shisha in pieces and
parts, higher-end pipes like Dr. Grabow, and a variety of RYO brands.”
J.C. Tobacco Mart’s staff (from left to right):
Donna Collins, Linda Avella, Jessica Curnett and Emily Woods
