Happy Anniversary to Us!
As March 2017 approaches, M.A.’s Smokehouse wraps up its 40th year of serving Shreveport-Bossier’s pipe and cigar community. Local freelance writer Jeff Slaughter recently sat down with manager Buddy Williams to reminisce about those 40 years.
In Part One of the interview, Buddy discusses the early years of M.A.’s Smokehouse. In Part Two, Buddy tells us what he enjoys about the business, how former customer’s adult grandchildren are still ordering their grandfather’s favorite tobacco, and what the future of the business looks like.
Let’s start at the beginning. Who started M.A.’s Smokehouse, and what does ‘M.A.’ stand?
My dad was a pipe smoker and started M.A.’s in March, 1976 as a pipe shop.
He named the shop using the initials of my mom’s first name: ‘Mary Ann.’ My dad was in the finance business and planned to run the smoke shop during his retirement. Unfortunately, he died in 1991 at 61 years of age, well before he could retire.
Tell us about M.A.’s locations during the 40 years.
Our original location was in Eastgate Shopping Center on 70th Street. After 26 years there, the Eastgate owners decided to renovate the center, so we moved to Shreve City. We were there for four years until we moved to Towne Oaks Shopping Center in mid-2015 and then opened our second location on Old Minden Road in Bossier City in November 2015.
At one time there were three other smoke shops in the area. There was ‘Mr. J’s’ downtown, the ‘Tinderbox’ at Southpark Mall and ‘Toadroad’ on Youree Drive. We’re the last one left. I guess what kept me going was being hardheaded!
What was the focus of the business in the beginning, and how did your dad find his first loyal customers?
My dad was a pipe smoker, so in the beginning we were a pipe shop. But in the mid-1980s he began to transition the shop toward cigars. That was a great move because cigars exploded in the 1990’s thanks to the popularity of Rush Limbaugh, who smoked cigars, a link between cigars and the popularity of Harley-Davidson Motorcycles, and even iconic television shows like Seinfeld featuring cigars in their episodes.
Eastgate Shopping Center was brand-new, and we had a lot of foot traffic from places like Kmart, Wilson’s, hobby shops and especially Eastgate Cinema.
How has ownership evolved over the years?
After my dad died in 1991, my mom owned the business until she passed away in 1998. I bought my sister out then and owned it until 2014 when I decided to sell. The timing was right, and part of the agreement with Matthew St. Amant, the new owner, was that I would stay on as manager, which is a benefit to him because I have expertise, product knowledge and great relationships with the customers.