Tuesday, February 13 2007
Famous Smoke Shop is an American-owned company founded in 1939 by David and Rose Zaretsky. The company began as a Mom & Pop cigar and gift store located on Broadway in the midtown Manhattan district of New York City, and grew to become one of the largest direct market retailers and manufacturers of imported premium
handmade cigars in the United States by the early 21st century.
In 2006 BizRate awarded Famous Smoke Shop's website, Famous-Smoke.com "Gold Honoree" status for its excellence in customer service, product selection, customer satisfaction, and per-dollar value.
History
David and Rose Zaretsky incorporated Famous Smoke Shop in New York City in October of 1939. In 1970 their son, Arthur Zaretsky entered the family business and shortly afterward issued the company's first mail-order cigar catalog. Additional income from catalog sales allowed the business to expand, giving the company a national presence as a direct marketer. During the 1992 to 1998 cigar-boom, the company grew at an even faster pace, and in 1997 Famous Smoke Shop debuted its first website, Famous-Smoke.com. Famous Smoke Shop currently owns and operates three additional websites: CigarDomain.com, a website for wholesale customers; CigarAuctioneer.com, a website for premium cigar auctions; and CigarMonster.com, a one-deal-a-day website for cigar bargain hunters.
Retail Store
The first Famous Smoke Shop cigar store opened in 1939 and was located at 1433 Broadway in New York City. In addition to magazines and other sundry items, the 350 sq. ft. store primarily sold imported and domestic cigars. The store remained at that location until 1975 when the company moved to a 550 sq. ft. location at 1450 Broadway, not far from the original store. During the mid-1980's Manhattan real estate was booming and rents began skyrocketing. Unable to afford the astronomical midtown rents, in 1986 Famous Smoke Shop moved its cigar store to a 1550 sq. ft. location at 55 W. 39th Street. That same year, then Governor, Mario Cuomo, passed a 15% state excise tax on all tobacco products. The tax put a huge dent in cigar sales making it difficult to pay the rent. Moreover, the company couldn't afford to get out of its lease.
In 1986 David Zaretsky became ill and could no longer work. Rose also had to step out of the company because her husband required fulltime care. The entire responsibility of the store fell on Arthur, who assumed sole ownership in 1984.
In 1992, the cigar boom hit. The spark that lit the fire was the premier issue of Cigar Aficionado magazine, which debuted in August of 1992 and ushered in a change of fortune for Famous Smoke Shop and the cigar industry as a whole. During the boom, the demand for premium handmade cigars led to huge price increases. Investments in new factories led to new cigar brands, many of which would prove to be short-lived.
At the height of the boom the demand for premium tobacco had depleted much of the market. Stores were often out of cigars for months at a time, in some cases. To deal with the shortage, some retailers had to limit the amount of cigars customers could buy.
By 1998 the boom had begun to wane. Many of the start-up cigar companies began to fail, and the first signs of supply catching up with demand were evident. Retailers could now maintain normal levels of inventory.
While business was good, high state taxes and New York City rent increases continued. Arthur was forced to relocate the company to Easton, Pennsylvania. October 7th, 2000. While some of his New York staff followed, Arthur had to hire a whole new team.
Now headquartered at 1100 Conroy Place in Easton, PA, the new location features a cigar store that is just one part of a 24,000 sq. ft. edifice housing the company's business offices, call center, shipping department, and a humidified, state-of-the-art warehouse.
In 2003 Famous Smoke Shop became an "appointed" Davidoff cigars retailer, a rare honor bestowed each year to only a very select group of cigar stores.
Mail order catalog & Marketing
The first Famous Smoke Shop catalog debuted in 1970, comprising a typewritten pricelist of available cigar brands. Eventually, Famous hired an outside advertising agency to write and print an illustrated catalog. Today Famous Smoke Shop has its own in-house staff of catalog copywriters and graphic artists.
Technology and the Worldwide Web
In 1982, Famous Smoke Shop purchased its first business computer. Until that time, all orders had been taken manually. While slow and troublesome, that first computer system sufficed until the company upgraded in 1988. Today, Famous' state-of-the-art business systems are bolstered by servers that house its websites.
In October of 1996 Famous acquired its third computer system and installed their first automatic phone call center system to queue phone calls. The automated call center system drove sales to record highs and led to a cover story in the August, 1998 issue of Inc. magazine titled, "The 24-Hour Sales Machine."
As an avid reader, Arthur had become very familiar with Amazon.com and aimed to emulate its model. By the end of 1997, Famous Smoke Shop was live on the web, featuring one of the first real-time inventory systems.
Today Famous Smoke Shop operates four ecommerce websites: Famous-Smoke.com, CigarAuctioneer.com, CigarMonster.com, and CigarDomain.com. Famous Smoke Shop has engaged the current social media trend by building a major presence on social networks Facebook and Twitter.
Manufacturing
In addition to marketing premium handmade cigars, Famous Smoke Shop has contracted the manufacture of a number of exclusive cigar brands. These include Olor, Olor Nicaragua, La Floridita, La Campiña, Conuco, Cariños, Alabao, Journeys, and Aspira, among many more. Most of these private labels are made by leading cigar manufacturers like Plasencia, Rocky Patel, Oliva, Perdomo, Don Pepin Garcia, Drew Estate, Flor de Gonzalez, and Pinar del Rio.
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