Stop & Shop stops selling tobacco products

Massachusetts’ largest grocery store chain will stop selling tobacco products in all of its stores this week.

Stop & Shop, which operates 125 stores in Massachusetts, described its decision as “part of the brand’s commitment to community well-being.”

On Monday, the company also announced that it wants to encourage people to quit smoking by hosting a cigarette buyback event in Boston on Wednesday.

The buyback campaign is targeting neighborhoods in the chain’s service area where smoking rates and smoking-related health problems are higher. The first 100 customers to bring an unopened pack or carton of cigarettes to the store at 460 Blue Hill Ave. in Dorchester for exchange will receive a Stop & Shop gift card and a bag of snacks, mints, smoking cessation products and nicotine gum coupons.

“Our responsibility as a grocer extends far beyond our shelves, and we are committed to taking bold steps to help our associates, customers and communities work toward better health outcomes,” said Gordon Reid, president of Stop & Shop.

CVS stopped selling cigarettes nationwide in 2014, becoming the first national pharmacy chain to ban the products from all of its stores. The move was praised by state and federal government officials, including then-President Barack Obama.

Stop & Shop will stop selling tobacco on Saturday.

Reid’s statement also noted that the store’s pharmacists and registered dietitians aim to “promote the health and well-being of the neighborhoods we serve.”

After years of declining cigarette smoking rates among adults, there was a slight increase in the number of adults smoking between 2021 and 2022, from 11.5% to 11.6%, according to the American Lung Association’s latest Annual Tobacco Control Report. At the same time, overall tobacco use among adults is increasing at a faster rate, driven by an increase in e-cigarette use among adults from 4.5% to 6%.

“The increase in e-cigarette use over the past two years has been driven by the 18-24 age group, and 65.5% of e-cigarette users in this age group were not previously smokers in 2022,” the report said.

Tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in America, killing approximately 480,000 people each year, according to the organization.

In recent years, there have been numerous efforts at the state and local levels to curb tobacco use, particularly among young people.

Former Republican Governor Charlie Baker signed a law in 2018 banning anyone under 21 from purchasing tobacco products in the state, and the city of Brookline made national headlines earlier this year when the Supreme Court upheld the nation’s first ordinance banning the sale of tobacco products to those born in the 21st century.

Stop & Shop’s new policy not only applies to its stores in Massachusetts, but will also go into effect at all 360 stores in Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey.

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 state excise tax of 210% of the wholesale price.

State documents show the cigarette tax is expected to raise $260 million this fiscal year, compared to $416 million in fiscal year 2020.

Senators Brendan Crighton of Lynn and Tacky Chan of Quincy introduced a bill (S 1341) this session that would require all retailers that sell cigarettes, e-cigarettes or other tobacco products to also sell so-called smoking cessation products, including nicotine replacement products such as patches and gum that can help with nicotine withdrawal and cravings.

“I certainly support any measure that restricts access to tobacco products,” Crighton said on Stop & Shop news Tuesday. “It’s a public health crisis and I think we’ve made pretty great progress in addressing it politically, but there’s more work to be done.”

The Public Health Committee, chaired by Rep. Marjorie Decker and Sen. Julian Cyr, reviewed the bill before burying it in a remand resolution in February. Crighton plans to re-introduce it next session.

“There are different ways for people to break this habit and we need to create options,” he said Tuesday.