ARLINGTON — Customers at the Blue Stilly smoke shop near Arlington have a new choice when it comes to cigarettes: locally made.
Complete and Premis cigarettes, selling for $21.80 and $22.89, respectively, per carton, come to the Blue Stilly from the Skookum Creek Tobacco Company, owned by the Squaxin Island Tribe in Shelton.
“We’re having trouble keeping them in stock because they’re selling out so fast,” said Eddie Goodridge Jr., who owns the Blue Stilly along with his family.
Goodridge is the tribal executive for the Stillaguamish Indian Tribe, which owns the land on which the Blue Stilly sits, but the smoke shop is privately owned by the Goodridge family.
The Stillaguamish tribe late last month signed a tobacco compact with Washington state that allows it to sell cigarettes on the tribal land without fear of raids or criminal charges by the federal government.
The Goodridge family is now operating the Blue Stilly under that compact. Previously, the smoke shop was not recognized as legal by the federal government.
Along with the compact came the cigarettes manufactured by the Squaxin Island Tribe, which only sells the smokes to tribes that have a state compact.
The Indian-made cigarettes have quickly become popular products among Blue Stilly customers, Goodridge said.
“People like that they’re native-made, and also that they’re local,” he said. “They know they haven’t been sitting around for months. They’re fresh, from nearby.”
The Skookum Creek Tobacco Company also provides loose tobacco to the Blue Stilly, where it is sold in one-pound bags for $15, and six-ounce bags for $7.50.
Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@heraldnet.com.
Cigarettes in Indian Country
Under the Stillaguamish Indian Tribe’s compact with the state:
The cost of each carton of cigarettes will include a $16.20 tribal tax.
After three years, the tax will rise to $20.25 per carton.
The cigarette tax will go toward services for Stillaguamish tribal members, including health care.
Blue Stilly customers also pay a 9 percent retail sales tax, which also goes to tribal coffers.
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