13 / 65
in the hand-rolled cigar retail sector,” says Galla-
gher. The company plans to maintain “the great pre-
mium cigar business that is established in this store”
and its “unique neighborhood personality.” Like Fred
Hoyland in Tampa, Dan Dunne, the owner of the
Denver cigar store, looked to Smoker Friendly when
he was ready to exit the business.
The premium cigar category is on the growth map
of other top players, such as Collett, who reports ef-
forts are underway to put a bigger focus in the cate-
gory moving forward. Roberts, too, is increasing pre-
mium cigar SKUs and employee education this year.
Smoke Em will also promote its vape expertise as a
growth avenue “to compete with the vape-only stores,
which hit our sales hard over the last 18 months,” says
Roberts. “We are careful to use only U.S. manufac-
tured and sealed products. In addition, we repair
tanks, coils and other components. Training of staff
is critical so that the customer has the confidence that
they are dealing with a reputable vape retailer.”
Now that Cox’s Smokers Outlet’s cigarette sales
are almost dead-even with its 2015 cigarette sales
(which Grantz says he is very happy about), the chain
has a host of growth categories—namely premium
cigars and non-tobacco items such as beer, wine, li-
quor and alternative products. “We have increased
our presence and broadened our selection of these
non-cigarette products and added some of these cat-
egories to some of our stores that were not offering
them before,” he tells
TB
.
Even more radically, Smokers Choice has been
“slowly converting its tobacco-only stores to carry a
wide range of convenience items in order to increase
foot traffic, as well as moving locations to a larger
footprint to add new categories like beer, packaged
food and food-to-go,” according to Nolan.
The chain also started a new concept called
MUNCHIES, a store-within-a-store selling beer and
hot dogs. “Hot dogs, nationally, has seen a growth
spurt in sales,” says Nolan. “Carrying a good national
brand hot dog like Nathans has increased foot traffic
sales and given us the ability to meet the SLA require-
ments to obtain an alcohol license to sell beer. The
increase in customer counts and GP growth will allow
us to continue to open stores with larger footprints.”
Improved technology in the form of point-of-
sale (POS) systems and loyalty programs is anoth-
er growth area for top 50 forward-thinkers. “As we
move into 2017, we’re looking to identify and pin-
point data on every category through new systems,”
says Armstrong. “We are looking to develop loyalty
promotions for our customers.”
Adds Silverman, “the best growth opportunities
currently lie in participating in some of the scan data
and loyalty programs that some of the manufactur-
ers, such as Altria and R.J. Reynolds, has been of-
fering. Participating in these programs have given us
a way to help differentiate the price on some of the
top-selling items.”
TB
38 |
TBM MANAGEMENT,
Pearl River, Louisiana;
14 stores
39 |
PUFF-N-SNUFF,
Lock Haven, Pennsylvania;
14 stores
40 |
a
REDI-MART
TOBACCO,
Elizabethton, Tennessee;
14 stores
41 |
a
JC’S CIGARETTE
OUTLET,
Elizabethtown,
Kentucky; 13 stores
42 |
a
SAVON,
Oneida, New York;
13 stores
43 |
TOBACCO DISCOUNT,
Picayune, Mississippi;
13 stores
44 |
a
MGN TOBACCO,
Raleigh, North Carolina;
11 stores
45 |
BO’S SMOKE SHOP,
Elizabethtown, Kentucky;
10 stores
46 |
TOWN CRIER,
Mandeville, Louisiana;
10 stores
47 |
a
TRUAX 2,
Salem, Oregon;
9 stores
48 |
SMOKE EM, D.B.A.
SMOKE M,
Scottsdale,
Arizona; 9 stores
49 |
a
BLUE RIDGE
TOBACCO,
Winston-Salem,
North Carolina; 8 stores
50 |
a
FROEHLICH
ENTERPRISES,
Barnesville, Ohio;
8 stores
a
Smoker Friendly
authorized dealer
b
Count is taken from 2016;
could not confirm store
count in 2017
➨
➨
➨
➨
➨
➨
TOP-TO-TOP
COMPARISON
Compared to 2016’s list,
here’s how the tobacco
outlet industry’s top 50
chains add up for 2017:
The top 50 chains this
year make up 2,258 total
stores, versus 2,286 total
stores in 2016’s list, es-
sentially a flat change (a
decrease of 1.2 percent)
Three chains from last
year’s list were sold and/or
stores were sold off (Gate-
way Marketing, Inc./Tobac-
co Station USA, Texarkana,
Arkansas.; Dirt Cheap
Cigarettes & Beer, Fenton,
Missouri.; andTobacco
Depot, Tampa, Florida.)
14 chains (28 percent)
have increased their store
count by at least one
store since the 2016 sur-
vey; seven (14 percent)
have increased by more
than one store
Seven chains (14 percent)
saw store declines; three
of those (6 percent) re-
duced their count by only
one store
29 chains (58 percent)
have stayed the same
in store count, including
two chains that appear
on the Top 50 list for the
first time
86 percent of
TBI
Top 50
chains have either kept a
consistent store count or
increased it—a percent-
age slightly greater than
last year's by 4 percent
[ T O B A C C O B U S I N E S S . C O M ]
TOBACCO BUSINESS
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