Tobacco Business

[ 82 ] TOBACCO BUSINESS [ NOVEMBER / DECEMBER | 21 ] Most tobacco retail stores begin as small boutiques, but if the market allows, they grow into much bigger operations. That was the case with Wooden Indian Tobacco Shop, which began not as a store but instead as a small table within an indoor Pennsylvania mall in 1959. A lot has changed since those days. Now, instead of a table and a cloth partition, Wooden Indian Tobacco Shop is a proper brick-and-mortar store. It has a 950-square-foot humidor and an 850-square-foot Drew Estate-branded lounge as well as a strong online presence. What did it take for this store to make the leap from a small boutique to a thriving brick-and-mortar tobacco retailer? Simply put, a vision. In 2005, Dave Mayer had a choice to make. Was he going to enjoy a well-deserved retirement or would he take on the challenge of running a struggling cigar store? Like most people, Mayer found retirement and the freedom that came with it more than a little appealing. As many retirees encounter, the relaxation and downtime are enjoyable to a certain extent. However, he wanted more to do, a new challenge. It wasn’t until he spoke to the owner of his favorite cigar store that he discovered what his next chapter would be. Mayer discovered that the owner wanted out. Up until that point, the only retail experience he had was from his teenage years when he worked in a drugstore. Some people may have been intimidated by the daunting task of what it would take to run a cigar store, but Mayer embraced the challenge and used it as motivation to build something great. “When I took it over, the Wooden Indian Tobacco Shop was the ‘little engine that couldn’t’ of cigar stores,” Mayer states on his store’s website. “Like a locomotive needs coal to go uphill, a cigar store needs inventory to succeed. But the store at that time had just 123 open boxes of cigars, with very few popular brands represented.” Mayer set out to revive the shop by giving its inventory a much- needed review. Within five years, the store’s humidor housed 587 boxes of premium cigars. As the inventory and selection improved, so did the customer base. By 2010, Wooden Indian Tobacco Shop had once again outgrown its space. Today, Wooden Indian Tobacco Shop’s humidor includes an eclectic assortment of brands, both big and small. Mayer also realized that the future success and growth of Wooden Indian Tobacco Shop would depend on having a team that not only helped him with the store’s operations but also shared in his vision. One of those team members is Dan Wood, general manager of Wooden Indian Tobacco Shop, who discusses his store’s journey from small boutique to big-time tobacconist status. Glitz and Glamour Wood smoked his first cigar in 2008. Soon after, he began traveling to many different tobacco stores and lounges across several states. One of those trips introduced him to Wooden Indian Tobacco Shop, where he became a member of the store’s Liga Privada lounge and met the store’s owner, Dave Mayer. “I was a customer and lounge member for years,” says Wood. “When I hit a crossroads in my career at the time, I realized I needed to do something that brought me joy and happiness, and nothing did that more than cigars, so I approached Dave Mayer in early 2013 for an opportunity, and the rest was history.” DAVID MAYER President/Founder BARB BOSHA Vice President DAN WOOD General Manager TODD BISEL Online Sales Manager Meet the Team