Nathan Smith | Have You Heard? | Wichita Eagle Blogs

“Shipping Wars” features ‘Til We Meet Again

Jan. 23, 20133:33 p.m.

WICHITA — More than a year after filming, “Shipping Wars” aired footage of ’Til We Meet Again shipping a custom casket on Jan. 16.

Nathan Smith says he and business partner Traci Smith-Cone weren’t allowed to publicize the A&E show’s air date, but the episode will replay on Feb. 3.

Smith says the show shot more than three hours of footage but used only a minute and a half.

“It was a lot of fun doing it.”

The show didn’t use the ’Til We Meet Again name, but it mentioned Smith and Wichita, so people have found the store.

“We’ve had so many calls about it already,” he says. “You can’t pay for advertisement like that.”

It’s given Smith-Cone an opportunity to tease Smith, too.

“She’s said it’s always frightening to see me at 52 inches.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: "Shipping Wars", 'Til We Meet Again, A&E, Nathan Smith, Traci Smith-Cone Filed under Retail, Television | Comments Off

Dan Carney’s ‘Til We Meet Again franchise opens in Phoenix this weekend

Dec. 11, 20123:58 p.m.

WICHITA — Most business owners like a little publicity for their new businesses, but Dan Carney isn’t most business owners.

The Pizza Hut cofounder and some partners are opening a ’Til We Meet Again franchise in Phoenix this weekend, but Carney would rather not discuss it.

Franchise founder Nathan Smith and his business partner, Traci Smith-Cone, have been consulting with Carney on their business.

“I consult with anybody that’s really interested and calls me and asks for help,” Carney says. “This is what happened with Nathan.”

He says he’s “hopefully helped him form some ideas that have been successful.”

Carney says the two disagree on how much publicity a business should have before it’s proven successful.

An ex-employee of Carney’s wanted to open the Phoenix store, and he agreed to back him.

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: 'Til We Meet Again, Dan Carney, Nathan Smith, Pizza Hut, Traci Smith-Cone Filed under Franchises, Retail | Comments Off

‘Til We Meet again obtains license to sell Vatican caskets, urns, grave markers and memorial products

Nov. 28, 20125:00 a.m.

WICHITA — If a business person would like to do business with the Vatican, is it as easy as calling up and asking?

Almost. At least that’s how it seemed to go for Nathan Smith and Traci Smith-Cone of ’Til We Meet Again, the casket store at Towne West Square that’s turning into a national chain.

The day after Thanksgiving, Smith says he and Smith-Cone signed a deal with the Vatican for Vatican-licensed merchandise.

“We are the only source for retail for all Vatican caskets, urns and memorial products throughout the United States,” Smith says. “It’s been something we’ve been working on for quite some time.”

Another company used to have the exclusive license, he says.

“That company that was doing that fell on some hard times and bad management and are no longer in existence,” Smith says.

When he heard that, he says he called the Vatican to inquire about the license.

“Through a lot of negotiations and talks, we thought it brought a lot of value to have that license from the Vatican,” Smith says. “It’s going to be a pretty big license for us.”

The company is in the process of working with the Vatican and several manufacturers on developing lines for caskets, urns, grave markers, jewelry and keepsakes.

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: 'Til We Meet Again, Dan Carney, Division 1, Major League Baseball, NASCAR, Nathan Smith, NBA, NFL, NHL, Towne West Square, Traci Smith-Cone, Vatican Filed under Franchises, Real estate, Religion, Retail, Towne West Square | Comments Off

‘Til We Meet Again further franchises and encounters its first stumbling block

Sept. 5, 20126:00 a.m.

WICHITA — Willow Group continues to ink franchise deals for more ’Til We Meet Again stores, but the Wichita company has also experienced its first setback.

The chain’s first franchisee was to open a custom casket store in Glenbrook Square in Fort Wayne, Ind., in May, but Willow Group’s Nathan Smith says mall management changed its mind without giving him or local media a reason.

“Glenbrook Square officials likely sealed a casket company’s fate in Fort Wayne,” read the lead of a Journal Gazette story, which was one of several stories about the issue that appeared in local media outlets.

“It was a mess,” says Smith, who is partners in Willow Group with Traci Smith-Cone.

“Honestly, it took us by surprise,” Smith says. “We do everything we can in the beginning to make sure everything is secured.”

He says the mall took five months to approve the contract.

No one with Glenbrook could be reached for comment.

Smith says the franchisee lost about $100,000 on remodeling and other expenses when told she’d have to vacate the mall five days before opening. He says the store had a contract, but there was a clause that the mall could ask the store to leave at any time.

“We definitely worked quickly with the franchisee to minimize even more loss of funds,” Smith says. “At the time, it was a scramble.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: 'Til We Meet Again, Glenbrook Square, Nathan Smith, Simon Malls, Southridge Mall, Starbucks, Towne East Square, Towne West Square, Traci Smith-Cone, Willow Group Filed under Franchises, Real estate, Retail, Towne East Square, Towne West Square | Comments Off

Willow Group lands Texas-size franchise deal for 14 new ‘Til We Meet Again stores

June 25, 20122:45 p.m.

UPDATED — On the heels of getting its first franchise in April, the Willow Group has inked a deal with an undisclosed group for 14 ’Til We Meet Again stores in Texas. All of them will be open no later than 2014.

“It’s huge,” says Nathan Smith, who is partners with Traci Smith-Cone in the venture.

The two opened the custom casket store in Towne West Square in 2010 with no plans to franchise.

That changed, though, and in April they landed their first franchise with a store in Glenbrook Square Mall in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Smith says they’ve just finalized a deal for a Milwaukee store, though the franchisee hasn’t signed a lease for mall space yet, and are close on a three-store deal in Phoenix.

Smith thinks the Texas deal will help him and Smith-Cone close other deals.

“For the folks that are out there that we’re talking to right now … those guys that are on the fence … seeing that definitely gets them off the fence quickly,” Smith says. “It helps legitimize what we’re doing.”

He says it gives other potential franchisees a sense of security to know “they’re not the first ones, and they’re not doing this by themselves.”

Smith says he and Smith-Cone have the infrastructure in place for the rapid expansion.

“That’s what is the best part about what we’re doing here and what makes this work,” he says.

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: 'Til We Meet Again, Glenbrook Square Mall, K-State, Nathan Smith, Towne West Square, Traci Smith-Cone, Wichita State University, Willow Group Filed under Franchises, Retail | Comments Off

‘Til We Meet Again gets its first franchisee

April 25, 20125:00 a.m.

UPDATED — Two years after opening ’Til We Meet Again, the custom casket store in Towne West Square, the Willow Group has its first franchisee.

The franchisee is opening a ‘Til We Meet Again in the Glenbrook Square Mall in Fort Wayne, Ind., next month.

Several more likely will follow in short order. That’s even though Willow Group partners Nathan Smith and Traci Smith-Cone never planned to franchise.

“We said, ‘Absolutely not. We’re going to do this on our own,’” Smith-Cone says.

What changed?

“The YouTube video,” she says.

There have been a few videos about the store, one of which has been viewed almost 124,000 times on YouTube. Calls from around the country started coming from people who wanted to open similar shops. Then a January story in Entrepreneur piqued even more interest.

“We’ve been flooded with inquiries,” Smith says.

“My limited knowledge about franchising was we would lose control of those businesses,” Smith-Cone says. “For two type-A personalities to do that, that was very tough.”

They realized they didn’t have much choice, Smith says.

“Once it got out there, to prevent anyone else from doing what we were doing, we had to move quickly,” he says. To secure exclusive deals with manufacturers, who create all kinds of unique caskets and urns, they needed to open more stores than they could afford to do on their own.

“Our fear was more of other people starting their own and creating competition for what we wanted to do,” Smith says. “Before we didn’t have that buying power.”

Now they do, but it hasn’t been easy.

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: 'Til We Meet Again, Dan Carney, Dick Hassur, Entrepreneur, Glenbrook Square Mall, Nathan Smith, Towne West Square, Traci Smith-Cone, Willow Group, YouTube Filed under Franchises, Retail | Comments Off

You don’t say

Jan. 17, 20124:46 p.m.

“It just blew us away. … We were not ready for it whatsoever.”

– Nathan Smith of ’Til We Meet Again on an Entrepreneur article on the Towne West Square casket store that ran a month early and has led to a deluge of calls

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: 'Til We Meet Again, Entrepreneur, Nathan Smith, Towne West Square Filed under You don't say | Comments Off

‘Til We Meet Again to open second custom casket store, this time in Hutchinson

May 4, 20115:28 a.m.

WICHITA — The YouTube video “Death Comes to the Mall” has created more than just curious customers for ‘Til We Meet Again, the custom casket store that opened at Towne West Square in March 2010.

It’s also leading to a second store, this one in Hutchinson, in what owners Nathan Smith and Traci Cone hope will be a franchised chain.

“This whole thing has just taken . . . off and just taken us all by storm,” Smith says.

“I expected us to be open at least two years before we started putting (more) stores in.”

Hutchinson residents James and Robin McComas are two of the more than 120,000 people who have seen one of the videos that customers have made about the unique store.

“We actually drove down to take a look and see what it was,” James McComas says.

Then, Robin McComas’ father died, and her family ordered an urn from ‘Til We Meet Again that was customized to look like her father’s Harley-Davidson.

“It was a wonderful experience in the sense of closure for so many people,” James McComas says.

“Right after that, I kept hounding Nathan. ‘Hey, we’d really like to be partners with you.’ ”

He says the biggest trigger to open the store was when he lost his job as vice president for operations at Promise Regional Medical Center due to restructuring.

“It opened the door to this,” McComas says.

The Hutchinson store will open at 306 N. Main St. on May 19.

“I’m calling mine the Main Street model,” McComas says. “It’s designed for rural America. It’s a little bit different market niche.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: Dan Carney, Harley-Davidson, James McComas, Kansas State University, Nathan Smith, Pizza Hut, Promise Regional Medical Center, Robin McComas, Towne West Square, Traci Cone, Wichita State University, YouTube, ‘Til We Meet Again, “Death Comes to the Mall” Filed under Hutchinson, Kansas State University, New business, Towne West Square, Wichita State University | Comments Off

Jay Leno has some fun with the ‘Til We Meet Again store at Towne West Square

Oct. 6, 20104:29 p.m.

WICHITA — ‘Til We Meet Again, the casket store in Towne West Square that’s gotten lots of YouTube attention, has made some more news courtesy of Jay Leno.

“It was kind of shocking to be honest,” co-owner Nathan Smith says.

In his Tuesday monologue, Leno mentioned that there’s a casket store in a mall in Wichita.

“It’s in the perfect spot,” he said. “It’s right next to the Cinnabon.”

Leno was joking about when people drop dead from overeating.

“Personally, I don’t think Jay Leno is that funny, and it wasn’t a very good joke,” Smith says.

However, he adds, “I’d rather be a joke on Jay Leno than no joke at all, I guess, so I’ll take what I can get at this point.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: Cinnabon, Jay Leno, Nathan Smith, Towne West Square, ‘Til We Meet Again Filed under Retail, Towne West Square | Comments

‘Til We Meet Again casket company at Towne West Square gets a boost from YouTube

Sept. 13, 20106:04 a.m.

deere WICHITA — Not surprisingly, the ‘Til We Meet Again casket store has attracted a lot of attention since it opened at Towne West Square in March.

A YouTube video — “Death Comes to the Mall” — has since given it a lot more attention, especially nationally.

“We’re almost to 100,000 (views),” says co-owner Traci Cone. “It’s crazy.”

It’s proving to be a boon to business, too.

Cone was manning the store earlier this year when a man visiting from North Carolina stopped by and started shooting video.

“It happens every day,” Cone says of videos and photos.

Sometimes people won’t even come into the store to snap pictures or shoot video. Cone says they’ll sneak around corners.

urn The more than six-minute, spur-of-the-moment video the North Carolina man shot shows the store’s signature caskets — the KU casket is the most popular attraction — and unusual urns, such as a fishing pole.

“It has been amazing,” co-owner Nathan Smith says of reaction to the video. “Business was already good, but honestly that video took it to a whole new level.

“We have sold caskets and urns all across the country because of it.”

He also now has interest from at least five people who would like to have a franchise.

“We have been inundated about franchising,” Smith says.

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: "Death Comes to the Mall", "Grim Reaper Comes to the Mall", Duke, KU, Nathan Smith, Towne West Square, Traci Cone, YouTube, ‘Til We Meet Again Filed under Retail, Towne West Square, Video | Comments

Have You Heard?