Q&A: Tobacco Store Owner Tom Kaiser

Source from:  By ERIC SCOTT CAMPBELL Eric.Campbell@newsandtribune.com  01/21/2008

For 175 years, Kaiser's Tobacco Store in New Albany has been bequeathed through the family ranks, a nicotine-retail version of a funeral home or gravy boat. Tom Kaiser is part of the sixth generation to run the joint - he and his brother, John, and cousins, Mike and Mark. He was drafted into the business while still in school. The family spun off a wholesale business in 1956, which commands most of its attention these days, and the combination is sometimes enough to wear Kaiser out. "In my spare time, I just like to try to relax," Kaiser said. "I used to play a lot of golf." Kaiser puffed away on a cigarette in the back of the shop while he sat for an interview as part of The Evening News and Tribune's weekly Q&A series. QUESTION: Was your involvement in the business a foregone conclusion or did you ever have alternative plans? TOM KAISER: "Honest to God, I never really thought about it. It just kind of happened when they employed me as a really young man. Once, after a couple of years, I thought I might want to leave and do something else, but that just never evolved. I just realized how important the family thing is. We just keep going on. I don't think it was ever spoken that I was to do it." Q: Why do you think this business has lasted 175 years? KAISER: "Because we offer good products at a fair price. We treat people nice when they come in the door." Q: What's the oldest product for sale in the store? KAISER: "We might have a few pipes that aren't in production any more." Q: What are the most-sold items these days? KAISER: "Cigars. What we're selling the most of are medium-price cigars that you get a good value for your money - a better product than you get off a drugstore shelf." Q: How will your company be different when it turns 200 in 25 years? KAISER: "I think the majority of our customers, they have a different mindset. They've learned to enjoy [tobacco] in the privacy of their own home. I know many people who quit patronizing those places that banned smoking. That's their right as a consumer. I don't understand why everybody can't find a way to get along." Q: From how far do they come? KAISER: "As far as Indianapolis to get cigars [and] a lot of freehand pipes they've just started from a piece of briar." Q: Ever been to [tobacco Mecca] Ybor City in Tampa? KAISER: "The last time I was in Ybor City, I was a little boy ... toured Newman's factory. Watching all those workers making those cigars was really something to see. We're still a customer of theirs." Q: Which industry is in more danger: tobacco or newspapers? KAISER: "I have a friends who's an assistant editor of a weekly paper. We both kind of chuckled that we're in declining industries. But are we in declining industries, or is that what someone's telling us? "People think cigarettes sales are down. Well, they're not down. There's just so much more available today. A smaller percentage of people smoke, but there's more people. I don't know if that's true of newspapers either. There's a lot more boxes than what there used to be." Enditem