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Wegmans: Up in Smoke

Bob Vosburgh January 4th, 2008

It’s one of the obvious ironies retailers need to resolve if they want to honestly project an image of authenticity. Why do stores offering health and wellness products also sell items that have a proven track record of killing people?

We’re talking about tobacco, and so was Wegmans Food Markets when it announced earlier this week that it will stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products in all 71 stores as of Feb. 10. According to a brief in The Buffalo (N.Y.) News, the retailer will allow current inventory to sell out until then.

People can argue that the job of any retailer is to offer variety and choice — not to be a meddlesome entity that edits consumer choice. True enough. But in the case of tobacco, it’s time the supermarket industry caught up with public policy, which has been banning smoking in all sorts of venues over the past 20 years.

Category sales are falling anyway, and stores operate under the constant threat of sting operations testing prohibitions on sales to minors. Who needs the headache?

2 Comments to “Wegmans: Up in Smoke”

steve kelly Says:

January 4th, 2008 at 4:58 pm

This article could be reprinted word for word but instead of tobacco insert the word alcohol… or Oreo’s for that matter. It’s not a function of “…the supermarket industry catching up with public policy…” but more along the lines of tobacco no longer being in vogue; where as wine and spirits very much are. Both are just as addictive and deadly.
Brent Grover Says:

January 9th, 2008 at 9:04 pm

Wegman’s continues to take the risks of being a leader and not just another follower. This is a bold move and helps to set the tobacco-free agenda for young people as they shop in the store with their families.