NASHVILLE — U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co. (USSTC) will open its first brick-and-mortar store featuring its Copenhagen smokeless products, according to officials with USSTC parent company Altria Group Inc.

In a Jan. 31 investor call, Howard Willard, CEO of Richmond, Va.-based Altria, said the store will open in Nashville in the second quarter of 2019 and will offer the company the opportunity for “direct engagement” with the tobacco consumer.

Commenting further on the news, William Gifford, chief financial officer of Altria, said Nashville is an ideal location for the store because the company manufactures the smokeless product in the area.

“We think it affords our consumer a great opportunity to engage with the brand, and be right there where we’re manufacturing the product,” Gifford said. “So we’re really focused currently on the engagement with those adult dippers right there where the product is made.”

Started in 1822, Copenhagen was among the first brands of moist smokeless tobacco on the market, with retail sales today exceeding $1 billion annually, the company said. It’s available in original fine cut and long cut, as well as in Copenhagen Pouches.