Stop & Shop, a major grocery chain, Announced this week The company announced that it would stop selling tobacco products.
The East Coast chain has 360 stores in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey.
The company said it would stop selling cigarettes and tobacco products by August 31 as part of its “community health” commitment.
“As a grocer, our responsibility goes beyond the shelves: we're taking bold steps to empower our associates, customers and communities to work toward better health,” Stop & Shop president Gordon Reed said in a statement.
The company said this week that it hosted two cigarette buyback events in areas with high rates of smoking and smoking-related health problems.
Stop & Shop is the latest retailer to stop selling tobacco products.
Walmart has announced that it will stop selling tobacco in some stores in 2022. CVS Pharmacy stopped selling tobacco in 2014, and Target stopped selling cigarettes in 1996.
About 780 million people want to quit smoking, but only 30 percent have access to quitting tools, Stop & Shop said in a statement, citing the World Health Organization.
The retailer has partnered with the American Cancer Society and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.
Karen Knudsen, CEO of the cancer organization, said the organization was proud to partner with Stop & Shop as it ends the sale of cigarettes.
“This is a step in the right direction to end Big Tobacco's influence over children, and we know we can do more to reduce the toll of tobacco in our communities,” she said in a statement.
