The largest grocery store chain in Massachusetts will stop selling tobacco products in all its stores this week.
Stop & Shop, which has 125 stores in Massachusetts, called its decision "part of the brand's commitment to community wellness."
It also announced Monday that it's encouraging people to quit smoking by hosting a cigarette buyback event on Wednesday in Boston.
The buyback event will target neighborhoods within the chain's footprint that have higher rates of smoking and smoking-related health issues. The first 100 customers who bring in an unopened pack or carton of cigarettes to trade in to the location at 460 Blue Hill Ave. in Dorchester will receive a Stop & Shop gift card, and a bag of snacks, mints, smoking cessation products, and coupons for nicotine gum.
"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," said Gordon Reid, president of Stop & Shop.
CVS halted its cigarette sales nationwide in 2014, the first national pharmacy chain to ban the products from all of its stores. The move drew praise from state and federal government officials, including then-President Barack Obama.
Stop & Shop will end tobacco sales on Saturday.
Reid's statement also pointed to the store's pharmacists and registered dietitians as ways they aim to "support the health and well-being of the neighborhoods we serve."
After years of decline in adult cigarette smoking rates, there was a slight uptick in smoking adults between 2021 and 2022, according to the most recent annual State of Tobacco Control report from American Lung Association, from 11.5% to 11.6%. Meanwhile, overall adult tobacco use is increasing more rapidly, driven by a rise in adult e-cigarette use from 4.5 to 6%.
"The increases in e-cigarette use over the past two years have been driven by the 18- to 24-year-old age group and 65.5% of e-cigarette users in this age group did not smoke cigarettes previously in 2022," the report says.
Tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in America, killing about 480,000 people each year, according to the organization.
There have been a number of state and local efforts to rein in tobacco consumption in recent years, especially among young people.
Former Republican Gov. Charlie Baker signed a law in 2018 barring anyone under 21 from purchasing tobacco products in the state, and the town of Brookline made national headlines earlier this year when the Supreme Judicial Court upheld its first-in-the-nation ordinance banning the sale of tobacco products to anyone born in the 21st century.
Stop & Shop's new policy is not exclusive to its Massachusetts locations, and will go into effect in all 360 of its stores across Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey as well.
The excise tax on cigarettes in Massachusetts is $3.51 per pack of 20 cigarettes; cigars and smoking tobacco are subject to a state excise tax of 40% of the wholesale price; and smokeless tobacco is subject to a 210% state excise on the wholesale price.
State documents show cigarette taxes are projected to produce $260 million this fiscal year, down from $416 million in fiscal 2020.
Sen. Brendan Crighton, of Lynn, and Tacky Chan, of Quincy, filed a bill (S 1341) this session requiring any retailers selling cigarettes, vapes or other tobacco products to also have to sell so-called smoking cessation products. These include nicotine replacements like patches and gum that can help with nicotine withdrawals and cravings.
"I'm obviously very supportive of any move to reduce access to tobacco related products," Crighton said Tuesday of the Stop & Shop news. "It's a public health crisis, and I think we've made some pretty big strides to use policy to address it, but there's more to do."
The Public Health Committee, co-chaired by Rep. Marjorie Decker and Sen. Julian Cyr, reviewed the bill before burying it in a study order in February. Crighton plans to file it again next session.
"There's different ways for folks to break that habit, and we need to create options," he said Tuesday.
