The country’s largest retail tobacco store operator looks to expand its footprint into the Florida market.
The Cigarette Store Corp. (TCSC), owner and operator of Smoker Friendly retail stores, has finalized its acquisition of Tobacco Depot. The acquisition includes the company, along with Tobacco Depot’s 13 stores in and around Tampa, Fla.
Smoker Friendly will continue to operate the stores under the Tobacco Depot flag but will begin co-branding the stores “Smoker Friendly” in the near future and will introduce the Smoker Friendly brand family of products in the stores. Smoker Friendly is committed to operating Tobacco Depot with the same dedication to customer service and product selection as previously provided, maintaining the excellent team of Tobacco Depot employees.
“These stores are an excellent ‘bolt-on’ to our existing company stores in the mountain states and provide a complimentary product mix to the categories we currently sell in our stores. We are very excited about bringing the great premium cigar business that is established in these stores into our portfolio. Fred Hoyland and his team did a great job building the company and operating tobacco stores in this market and we are proud Fred looked to Smoker Friendly as an acquirer when he was ready to exit the business,” said Terry Gallagher Jr., president of TCSC/Smoker Friendly.
Smoker Friendly hopes that this acquisition will enable it to expand its footprint into the Florida retail tobacco market.