BOULDER, Colo. -- The Cigarette Store Corp. (TCSC), doing business as Smoker Friendly, the largest retail tobacco-store operator in the country, has announced that it has completed the acquisition of Tobacco Depot and its 13 stores based in and around Tampa, Fla.
Tobacco Depot was owned and operated by Fred Hoyland. The family-owned company had as many as 21 retail tobacco stores and a distribution warehouse over the past 21 years.
Smoker Friendly will continue to operate the stores under the Tobacco Depot flag, but will begin co-branding the stores as Smoker Friendly soon and will introduce the Smoker Friendly brand family of products in the stores. It said it hopes that this acquisition will enable it to expand the Smoker Friendly footprint into the Florida retail tobacco market.
Smoker Friendly executives said they are committed to operating Tobacco Depot with the same level of customer service and product selection as previously provided, maintaining the existing 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," said Terry Gallagher Jr., president of TCSC/Smoker Friendly.
"We are very excited about bringing the great premium cigar business that is established in these stores into our portfolio," he said. "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.”
Hoyland posted a personal message on the Tobacco Depot website and Facebook page (see below).
TCSC, doing business as Smoker Friendly, is a family-owned business based in Boulder Colo., and is the largest licensee of Smoker Friendly International. The company has become the largest retail tobacco operation in the United States and operates 103 retail outlets with a mix of tobacco stores, cigar lounges and convenience-store gasoline (under the name Gasamat) and liquor stores in six states.
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