Meet the Merchant: Chris Johnson of Tinder Box

My name is Chris Johnson and my name of the business is Tenderbox. It's been part of downtown Rapid City since 2010. My wife and I have owned it since 2014. My wife and I had come in, it was a date night for us, just noticed the potential that the business had. We decided to go into negotiations with the owners and come to find out they were wanting to sell the business. We purchased the business, closed it for about 14 days, paying in and put our spin on what it is today, which is nothing compared to what it was when we bought it back in 2014. What makes it unique is, well, first of all, we don't know a stranger. You can come into a cigar bar and you'll leave knowing five people that you didn't know. It's a very friendly group. There's only three cigar lounges in South Dakota that you can actually smoke a cigar in. There's only one in Rapid, there's one in Deadwood, and we have one in Sioux Falls. So that part of it makes us a true destination for the tobacconist that is looking for an indoor environment. Main Street Square contributes to our success because of all the events that they do downtown. It creates that energy that draws locals and tourists themselves into the area that creates foot traffic that us merchants like to see because it's a potential customer. I would describe Rapid City as a small, quaint, friendly town that really goes out of their way to help every individual that comes into town. It's just a great little sensational place.