Tobacco Business

[ 36 ] TOBACCO BUSINESS [ SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER | 21 ] Despite the difficulty for Smoker Friendly to find a partner with money, diligence paid off, and Main Street, which is a public-private equity firm, saw the numbers Smoker Friendly was doing and agreed to take a piece of the action. According to Gallagher, unlike others he spoke with, Main Street did not have a five-year timeline and in fact had several positions in its portfolio that were well beyond the five-year mark. Main Street was willing to work with the family and continue to grow the business by providing not only support but analysis. Overall, it was a complicated transaction. Now that a partner has been secured and there is more capital to work with, Smoker Friendly intends to increase its footprint. There are additional deals in the works that could boost Smoker Friendly to well over 250 locations by this year’s end. “We know that there are many owners in the channel that have been operating good businesses for over 25 years [and] that are starting to think ‘exit.’ They may be tired of having a target on their backs from the societal and legislative pressures, and giving them an exit strategy is something that is attractive to them. We’ll continue to work with our contacts and we have a lot of relationships throughout the U.S. and continue to roll up as quickly as we can and bite off as much as we can chew,” Gallagher explains. “We really believe there is room for growth. Our first goal is 500 stores, and it is not out of reach to get to 1,000 and beyond. There are a lot of operators out there in markets that nobody has ever heard of that have 10 to 12 stores and are doing a really good job. At some point, we’d like to be their opportunity for exit.” TB 17 Smokes For Less 23 NY 18 Smoke Shop 21 IN 19 Cigaret Shopper 20 ME 20 Tobacco Market/ Sir William 20 SC 21 Delta Distributors/ Discount Tobacco Outlet 20 AL 22 Smokes 4 Less 20 NY 23 Smokin Joe’s Tobacco and Liquor 19 IA 24 Cox’s Smoker’s Outlet 18 KY 25 Fast Lane Discount Tobacco 18 KY 26 Puff Super Value 17 PA 27 Discount Tobacco Outlet 17 LA 28 Klafters 16 OH, PA 29 Tobacco Road 16 PA 30 Tobacco Shoppe/ Save-A-Lot 16 KY 31 Nuttin But Smokes 15 TX 32 Kocolene/Smoker’s Host 14 IN, KY 33 Redi Mart Tobacco 14 TN 34 TBM Management 14 LA 35 Puff N Snuff 13 PA 36 Dirt Cheap 13 MO 37 JC’s Cigarette Outlet 13 KY 38 MGN, Inc. 13 NC 39 Tobacco Discount 13 MS 40 Merritt #1 Inc. (Truax) 11 OR 41 Town Crier 10 LA 42 Bo’s Smokeshop 10 KY 43 Blue Ridge Tobacco 9 NC, VA 44 Hi Time Smoker’s Outlet 9 NE 45 Low Ball Louie 8 FL 46 Froehlich Enterprises 7 OH 47 Tar Heel Tobacco 7 NC 48 Smokestack Discount Tobacco 6 KY 49 DWT 6 OH 50 Fast Lane Foods 6 IN