Stop & Shop will no longer sell cigarettes

Stop & Shop will stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products after this week.

Why it matters: The grocery chain says the decision will help improve health outcomes for its customers in Massachusetts and four other states, but it will also likely come as a disappointment to tobacco users.

State of play: Stop & Shop will end sales of tobacco products by Aug. 31 across its 360 stores.

• The retailer will also hold cigarette buyback events Wednesday at the Grove Hall store and a Staten Island store , both located in neighborhoods with higher rates of smoking and smoking-related health issues.

The first 100 customers at each store who returns an unopened pack or carton of cigarettes will get a Stop & Shop gift card.

• They will also get a bag of snacks, mints, smoking cessation information and a $10-off coupon for Nicorette.

Zoom out: Stop & Shop isn't the first to take this step. Wegmans supermarket stopped selling cigarettes in 2008.

• CVS and Walmart no longer sell tobacco products, either.

Flashback: Massachusetts banned menthol cigarettes and flavored tobacco in 2020, after concerns about teen vaping .

• The flavor ban has led to an increase in sales in New Hampshire and Rhode Island, as well as cross-state smuggling, according to a February report from a state illegal tobacco task force.

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