Tag: Smoker Friendly

  • Dan Gallagher President Smoker Friendly

    Dan Gallagher President Smoker Friendly

    Credit: Smoker Friendly

    The Cigarette Store, which operates as Smoker Friendly, announced on Monday that Dan Gallagher will be its new president, effective April 17.

    Gallagher has worked for the fuel and tobacco retailer since it was founded in 1991 and has been its executive vice president and chief operating officer since 2012. He’ll continue in those roles as he takes on the additional title of president, according to a press release.

    Gallagher is replacing his brother Terry Gallagher Jr. as the president of Smoker Friendly. Terry Gallagher will remain the CEO and chairman of the board of the family-owned company.

    Terry Gallagher Jr.

    “Dan has been instrumental in the growth of Smoker Friendly since its inception and key in establishing the great culture we have in this company,” Terry Gallagher Jr. said in the release. “Those of you who have worked closely with Dan know he is very deserving of this role and extremely capable of leading this company.”

    Smoker Friendly’s change at the president level comes during a busy period for the company, which is coming off a 54-store acquisition in March. Those locations, formerly Bob’s Discount Tobacco Shops in Indiana, are being rebranded to Smoker Friendly stores.

    Boulder, Colorado-based Smoker Friendly owns and operates 342 stores across 13 states. The Cigarette Store is the largest tobacco store retailer in the U.S., operating a mix of tobacco stores, cigar lounges, liquor stores, and fueling locations under the Smoker Friendly, Tobacco Depot, Smoke ’N Go, Havana Manor, and Gasamat banners.

  • Smoker Friendly Acquires Low Bob’s Locations

    Smoker Friendly Acquires Low Bob’s Locations

    Credit: Smoker Friendly

    The Smoker Friendly chain of retail stores announced it is acquiring 54 Low Bob’s Discount Tobacco locations in Indiana.

    The Cigarette Store, LLC, parent company of Smoker Friendly, announced its acquisition of Richmond Master Distributors, Inc., the owner of Low Bob’s Discount Tobacco. The stores will be rebranded as Smoker Friendly locations.

    There are 344 Smoker Friendly locations across 13 states, as well as independently owned stores within the Smoker Friendly network. The company has its own private-label brands and operates the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival, according to Charlie Minato of Halfwheel.

    “We are very pleased to welcome the Low Bob’s team to the Smoker Friendly family,” said Terry Gallagher Jr., CEO of Smoker Friendly, in a press release. Pat and Scott Carrico and the Richmond Master team have been longtime friends and leaders in the tobacco outlet channel. We are fortunate to make this acquisition and strengthen our Smoker Friendly footprint in Indiana, bringing our store count to 80 in the state.”

  • Kaival Expands Distribution

    Kaival Expands Distribution

    Kaival Brands has three new distribution partners for its Bidi Vapor products: Smoker Friendly International, Avail Vapor and Hilmes Distributing. These three additional distributors push the potential U.S. store count for Bidi Vapor products above 46,000, up from 10,000 in 2020.

    According to Bidi Vapor, distributor interest in its products has increased greatly following its receipt of a premarket tobacco product application filing letter from the Food and Drug Administration. As the company’s product moves into the substantive review phase, Bidi Vapor anticipates it will continue to update investors on additional new distribution agreements.

    “These new partners will become a large new revenue stream for Bidi and Kaival,” said Niraj Patel, CEO of Kaival Brands, in a statement. “It is important to note our 2020 sales of just under $100 million were achieved with a distribution network of 10,000 stores and in less than 10 months of operation.

    “Today’s new distribution partner announcements bring our network to over 46,000 store locations. The strength and breadth of these partnerships fuels our confidence in our ability to meet or exceed our 2021 projection of $400 [million] to 450 million in sales.”

  • Smoker Friendly Recapitalizes

    Smoker Friendly Recapitalizes

    Photo: Myriams-Fotos from Pixabay

    Smoker Friendly (SF) has completed a minority recapitalization and debt restructure with Main Street Capital Corp. Based in the United States, Smoker Friendly continues to be owned and operated by the Gallagher Family and led by the current management team.

    Smoker Friendly acquired 33 Smokers’ Outlet (SO) stores in Missouri, 22 Tobacco Road Outlet locations in North Carolina and three Smoker Friendly dealer stores in North Carolina in the last 14 months.

    “Having experienced previous acquisitions, the process Smoker Friendly utilized when purchasing SO was by far the best,” said Perry Cheatham, former president, Smokers’ Outlet. “My team was welcomed into the SF family and from day one felt like valued members of the team.”

    Smoker Friendly was founded in 1989 by the Gallagher family, who owned Gasamat, and a group of family owned candy and tobacco wholesale distributors in the Rocky Mountain region and Midwest. The Gallagher Family has wholly owned it since 2005.

    “This new partnership will allow us to bolt on more businesses to our platform and continue to execute our acquisition strategy,” said Dan Gallagher, COO, Smoker Friendly. “The acquisitions this past year have been seamlessly integrated into the operation and we’ve added many terrific people to our team.”

    “Smoker Friendly ensured a smooth transition with their team of specialists during the acquisition,” said Rex Whitaker, former pPresident, Tobacco Road Outlets. “One of my primary concerns was our employees and they offered positions to all who chose to remain, and it was a very smooth transition.”

    Smoker Friendly has more than 160 retail stores across seven states that operate as tobacco stores, cigar lounges, liquor stores and fuel outlets. The company also owns a full line private-label tobacco brand that has an additional 700 stores that sell its branded product.

    “I look forward to our partnership with Main Street Capital and believe it will be very beneficial to our company and strengthen Smoker Friendly, allowing the company to accelerate and execute acquisitions across the country,” said Smoker Friendly CEO, Terry Gallagher. “The strategic investment by Main Street will continue to fuel our growth and allow us to expand into new markets and grow in existing [ones].”