64
TOBACCO OUTLET BUSINESS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012
intense enough, there should be a place
for people to relax before they get on a
flight.”
When Graycliff looked to open
its first airport smoking lounge in
Nassau, the airport insisted that it
do a “common use” lounge as well.
Today, the lounge has smoking and
nonsmoking areas, as well as an
outdoor sundeck. It also features
a retail environment showcasing
Graycliff products. That lounge was
followed by two lounges in Nashville
International Airport, at gates B9
and C10, where smokers pay a $5
entrance fee to access a comfortably
furnished lounge with flat-screen
televisions and Graycliff products
available for purchase. “They are all
doing fantastic,” says Paolo Garzaroli.
“
We are in the process of building
seven more in places like Orlando,
Cincinnati and Bermuda.”
Other recent initiatives for the
company include a recently opened
chocolate factory on the Graycliff
property, and plans to build a
heritage village, where artisans will
practice their crafts and shops will
showcase their wares. A few years
back, the company also ventured into
luxury timepieces, with the launch of
a new luxury line of Swiss-made and
designed watches. Today, Graycliff ’s
Timepiece Division offers limited-
edition models at prices ranging from
$1,200.00 to $1,400.00.
Thanks to innovative moves like
this, Graycliff is on track to double
the size of its business over the next
six months, adds Garzaroli, who sees
the company as bigger than merely
a hotel or cigar brand. “With all of
the different things we do—cigars,
chocolates, the hotel, the lounge—I
think, ‘what would a person like myself
want to do, see, experience?’” he says.
“
And that’s what we try to deliver. You
are not just eating in a restaurant or
smoking a cigar or having a chocolate,
you are experiencing a lifestyle.”
ToB
Continued from p. 56