Smoker Friendly Acquires 21 Stores in Louisiana

BOULDER, Colo. — Smoker Friendly picked up 21 stores from Smoke 'N GO LLC in its fourth acquisition since late 2019.

The newly acquired Louisiana stores, which were licensed with Smoker Friendly International (SFI), will continue to sell the SF Private Label brands.

"What a great team TCS [The Cigarette Store] is to work with. Our transaction was seamless and could not have gone better. Our former associates are in good hands with a terrific operation. These stores provide a great opportunity for Smoker Friendly to grow in Louisiana," said Fred Hoyt, owner of Abbeville, La.-based Smoke 'N GO.

Boulder-based TCS is the largest licensee of SFI, and the largest tobacco store retailer in the United States. It operates a mix of tobacco stores, cigar lounges, liquor stores and fueling locations under the Smoker Friendly, Tobacco Depot and Gasamat banners in eight states.

"We've been friends with Fred for many years, so when he reached out earlier in the year expressing a desire to exit the business, we were able to get a transaction put together pretty quickly," said Terry Gallagher Jr., CEO of the Cigarette Store LLC, which does business as Smoker Friendly. "We are very excited about the stores and our opportunity in Louisiana. We are actively pursuing additional acquisitions and are extremely bullish on our growth opportunities."

This is the fourth acquisition Smoker Friendly has transacted in the last 20 months, bringing the store count to 181, operating in eight states.

Its recent moves started with the acquisition of Smoker's Outlet, a 33-store chain in Missouri, in November 2019. Smoker Friendly followed that deal with the acquisition of 22 Tobacco Road Outlet stores in North Carolina in February 2020, and the acquisition of MSMB Inc., a three-store chain in Hickory, N.C., in October.