How many times have we had a customer say "Hey, can you get this product so I can buy it here? I know it will sell."  

If your store is like ours is in Paynesville, space is always a key issue, making it difficult to bring in these new products the customers are asking for.  

I had this happen in February of 2013 with a customer wanting bag tobacco.  

With cigarette prices at a premium, he was looking for ways to save money.

We started by carrying 2- 1 pound bags and 2 boxes of tubes to make his cigarettes.  

We kept it in a small space next to our pints and ½ pints behind the counter.  

My initial thought was little space and little invested if this doesn't sell.  

In March our 7 foot section behind the counter was down to 4 feet of pints and ½ pints and 3 feet of tobacco.  

By May we added a 4 foot wide by 8 foot tall shelving unit to house all the tobacco and tubes.  

At the end of the year we sold $19,373 in make your own with a profit of $3,326.  

Our total investment of inventory was $2,400.  

Basically we turned the category 8 times in 11 months.  

This year we are projecting $42,450 in sales with an inventory investment around $2,800 for 66 different SKU's.  

That is $6,600 in profit while turning the category 16 times.  

We currently sell more in our make your own category than we do in cigarettes.

The ironic part of this story is I have never advertised the bag tobacco or make your own supplies.

We have gained all these new customers by the best advertising of all... word of mouth.  

We decided to fly this under the radar so that all the other stores in town wouldn't latch onto the idea as well.  

So far, so good!  

When looking into this make sure you check with your cigarette vendor, because the prices can really vary.  

I have found Amundson Cigar & Candy Co. out of Minneapolis to have the best price so far.  

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.  

I would love to help you help your customers and most importantly give extra profit to our cities.

Bill Ludwig

Paynesville Liquors

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