For tobacco sellers, it’s time to kick the habit

A decade after CVS Health’s audacious exit from the tobacco category, Stop & Shop has removed cigarettes and related products from its 360 supermarkets in five Northeastern states. Motivated by a desire to support the health and well-being of customers — a priority shared by corporate parent Ahold Delhaize — Stop & Shop placed principle above  profit in moving to help combat a persistent threat to public health.

“Our responsibility as a grocer goes far beyond our aisles, and we are committed to taking bold steps to help our associates, customers and communities work towards better health outcomes,” says Stop & Shop president Gordon Reid, who, having been trained as a pharmacist, clearly understands the multiple dangers that smokers face, including increased risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.

Late last month, the retailer highlighted the elimination of tobacco products from its merchandise mix and encouraged people to stop smoking with special events at two stores, in Boston and New York City. The first 100 customers at each location who brought in an unopened package or carton of cigarettes were able to exchange it for a Stop & Shop gift card, a $10 coupon for Haleon’s Nicorette, and a bag containing healthy snacks, mints, and smoking cessation information developed in conjunction with the American Cancer Society and that organization’s Cancer Action Network.

Stop & Shop should be commended for the stance it has taken on the sale of tobacco products, but one can’t help asking, what took so long? CVS, a trailblazer among U.S. retailers when it got out of the tobacco business in 2014, paid a considerable price for making the change. At the time, the category generated $2 billion a year in volume and a considerable amount of foot traffic for the drug chain. Undaunted, CVS forged ahead and came up a winner. Intent on burnishing its image as a health care provider, the company received an abundance of favorable news coverage by deciding that it would no longer sell tobacco.

In the wake of CVS’ exit from the category, it was hoped that additional retailers with a stake in pharmacy and health care — a group that includes many grocers and mass merchants as well as drug chains — would follow suit. Now that Stop & Shop has done so, perhaps more retailers will finally do the right thing.