The History
READ ABOUT WHERE WE HAVE BEEN AND WHERE WE ARE GOING
Across the distant realm of cosmos, you have found yourself here at the home page of the Crested Butte Tobacconist & Lifted Gifts. CBT & Lifted Gifts have been a Gunnison Valley favorite for nearly 25 years.
The history of the Tobacconist starts when Jamie Madsen and Jane Pilon opened up shop in one of the cabins behind the Post Office in Crested Butte. It was the first business in the valley to offer glass and fine cigars to the public.
Jamie passed away in 2004. John Penn took ownership over the shop at the request of friends and the community. Throughout the years following, the Tobacconist has moved locations quite a bit. Starting from the small cabin, to a room over a garage on Belleview, a space next to Ginger Cafe, what is now Sherpa, to the Company Store, then the Grubstake building, a space to the back of the Somrak Plaza, and finally being at a front shop at the Somrak Plaza on Elk Ave.
In order to survive, the Tobacconist has widened its inventory from glass and cigars to glass, cigars, affordable womens’ clothing, musical instrument accessories, incense, jewelry, and the largest supplier of CBD products in the region. Not only did we make changes to our inventory, we also changed our name. At the time, shop manager Sadie Heckle, ran a contest. The winning name change was Lifted Gifts. Though “Lifted Gifts” is part of our name, it is not true that we shoplift our inventory. 😉
Enduring the capacity of several factors that it takes to run a shop like this in a resort town is difficult, but we take great pride in what we do that makes our locals and guests happy.
Please, take a few minutes to explore our site and see what we have to offer!
What a long strange trip it’s been.