After moving around to four different locations and going through 10 owners, the business landed in the hands of 73-year-old Joe Wright in 1965. He’s put in a lot of work to keep it afloat, but the changing times and competition have left him with only one option.
“I’m going to close the doors on Aug. 26 and then on Aug. 29 everything will be auctioned off,” Wright said, as he sat in the place he’s operated for 50 years. “I’ve really just kept it open for the nostalgia. There’s not enough revenue coming in to pay the bills.”
With the Family Dollar now located across the street and other big box stores opening in and around the city, it has made the once successful business a shell of its former self, he said.
“We have had very loyal customers over the years and I thank them for their business,” Wright said. “People would come here for everything years ago – from the little nuts and bolts to getting something to eat or drink. Now they can go elsewhere and to the bigger stores.”
One of the most loyal customers, Doug Foster, 71, a retired AK Steel worker and school bus driver, remembers “the good ol’ days” at Tom’s Cigar Shop.
“I was coming in here when I was 5 or 6 years old and back then you could buy anything you needed here,” he said. “Now with all of those stores out there by the highway, people go to all of those places. I remember when all of that was farmland and I would go out there to pick kids up when I drove the school bus.”
Loyalty doesn’t end with just the customers. For two long-time employees, Teresa Jenkins and Vicki Flueck, losing Tom’s is like losing a family member.
“I’ve started an address book to get contact information from all of our regular customers so I can keep in touch with them,” Jenkins said. “Some of these folks come in five or six times a day.”
For Flueck, the place has held a very familiar theme. “It’s like Cheers – everybody knows you and knows your name,” she said.
With the closing of his store imminent, Jenkins openly reflected about the issues surrounding running a small business in today’s competitive market.
“The city wants us to put in a new roof and we need it, but it will cost between $25,000 and $40,000 and I don’t have the money. Most of the sale revenue is now from lottery and tobacco,” he said. “I make 5 percent off the lottery and 10 to 12 percent off tobacco and that is not enough to pay the bills.”
The $13 million High Main Street Bridge was under construction and completed in 2007. The project didn’t do Tom’s Cigar Shop any favors, according to Wright.
“When things started to go downhill, that was it — that bridge project killed us,” he said. “We lost customers because traffic was re-routed during the bridge construction and we never got them back. It was a traffic nightmare down here.”
Wright said he proposed putting in a parking lot where two adjacent buildings sat by his business, but the proposal wasn’t accepted by the city and the Historical Society didn’t want one of the buildings torn down.
“It’s all water under the bridge right now,” he said, with the pun intended.
For now, Wright is ready to move with his life. For sale and for hire are the next chapters he’s looking to fill.
“Hey, tell everybody to make me an offer and I’ll sell this business to them,” he said. “I’m going to be looking for work right now too. If anybody company is hiring then I’m available.”
About the Author