Richie grew up in New York. From 1979-2000 he built and operated 11 retail enterprises; ranging from Convenience stores, Delis, Liquor and discount cigarette outlets to Cigar, Tobacco, and Smoke shops.

Before retiring with his wife to Arizona in July of2019 he spent the last 3 years traveling throughout the Northeastern states. During this time he was visiting, and assisting hundreds of tobacco retailers. If you were building a cigar store or owned one that needed improvement; Richie was the man to get for valued advice on store layout and construction. When your Walk in Humidor was built to his specifications or you had cigar cabinets ready to fill he would make the selections and physically set up the displays himself. He also had a unique ability to transform outdated and unmaintained cigar displays into finished works of art. This service in particular created a ongoing waiting list of retailers wanting him to visit. Richie is an avid cigar smoker and lover of single malt whiskeys. He enjoys skeet, trap and target shooting and likes going fast in his new Jaguar F-type Coupe.