CVS Will Stop Selling Tobacco in its Stores

The second-largest drugstore chain will cease sales of tobacco products by October 1, taking a $2 billion hit in sales.
Published
Jeff Somogyi
BY:
Contributing Writer
Clerks cigarettes

CVS Caremark announced today that by October 1, it will stop selling cigarettes and tobacco products in its stores, completely. President and CEO, Larry J. Merlo, said in a statement, "Put simply, the sale of tobacco products is inconsistent with our purpose." That is, their purpose of being a place that people turn to for health care.

Not only is CVS the first national pharmacy chain to take this step, but it's the first time in 18 years that any national retail chain has done this. (Target stopped selling tobacco products in 1996.) The nation's second-largest drugstore chain (only Walgreens is bigger) will put this ban into effect in all of its 7,600 retail stores at an estimated loss of $2 billion in annual sales. That sounds like a lot, but that's only about 1.6% of the company's total revenue. The company has said that it will recoup these losses in other areas, but did not elaborate on those plans.

Beyond stopping the sale of these items, CVS will be going a step further with plans to launch a "national smoking cessation program" that will launch this spring. The program will include information available in-store and online, plus access to treatment in CVS pharmacy and Minute Clinic locations.

Related DealNews Features:
Jeff Somogyi
Contributing Writer

Jeff Somogyi is constantly trying to come up with ways to surprise and delight audiences the world over. He takes humor seriously ... too seriously. (Honestly, we've never seen him laugh ... it's kinda creepy.)
DealNews may be compensated by companies mentioned in this article. Please note that, although prices sometimes fluctuate or expire unexpectedly, all products and deals mentioned in this feature were available at the lowest total price we could find at the time of publication (unless otherwise specified).

Comments

Leave a comment!

or Register
13 comments
romanrob
Do you sad people really believe this has anything to do with then giving a darn? If someone kills your family after driving drunk(from beer bought at their store) you'll be comforted by knowing they were driving somewhere else to buy cigarettes.
February 23, 2014
Greg the Gruesome
Sheesh. I hate being around someone who's smoking as much as the next non-smoker, but it's no skin off my nose if a store I shop at sells tobacco products. It's not like removing tobacco products from pharmacy chains will significantly impact smoking rates since there will still be lots of other places to find them.

@aframie "CVS will lose business over this... people will stop making the trip for cigarettes, in turn, losing impulse sales."

That's taken into account in the "estimated loss of $2 billion in annual sales" stated in the feature. However, I heard on the news that this comes out to 17 cents per share. Will the stockholders tolerate it?

@msoo

LOLWUT

@rulez7009

Fortunately for you, CVS will also continue to sell aluminum foil for you to make hats out of.
February 6, 2014
rulez7009
"what about all the junk food, snacks, beer, alcohol and wine they sell?..."

what about all of the pharmaceuticals they sell? Those are unnatural and hurt tons of people annually.
February 6, 2014
Kyser_Soze
ijoe said "what about all the junk food, snacks, beer, alcohol and wine they sell?..."

Nobody puts those products in their mouth for a couple of seconds and then spits it out all over the other people near them. Smoking is disgusting.
February 5, 2014
msoo
They already hide the product in the photo dept. This is a minor portion of their profit. They simply figured out the cost/benefit formula. The cost was excess inventory.... the benefit ..free advertising that exceeds any potential profit. They are not altruistic, they simply made a good marketing decision.
February 5, 2014
aframie
Drugstores, while they do offer pharmaceuticals and are there for health... Are also convenience stores.They do not profit from selling cigarettes, they're not there to make money. It's for convenience. They don't sell them to spite anyone. If you don't want them, don't buy them! Walgreens will continue to sell cigarettes but they also offers smocking cessation products and healthier alternatives. CVS will lose business over this, not from the health-nut, liberal nazis but people will stop making the trip for cigarettes, in turn, losing impulse sales. People need to get over the whole tobacco thing... There are many people that still smoke and will continue to, whether you agree with it or not. For those that do smoke, won't be shopping at CVS anymore. If it didn't affect you to begin with, why do you even care?
February 5, 2014
DealRunner1337
Kinda funny though - When I tried quitting smoking I tried the CVS brand (habitrol) of their nicotine patches and they were pretty crap unless you didn't do anything at all during the day because they would keep falling off. I ended up sticking with the Walgreens brand which hurt like hell taking them off but at least they were guaranteed to stay on my arm all day. I have been quit for two years now with the help of the Walgreens nicotine patch.
February 5, 2014
anday82
Support your local pharmacy that never has sold tobacco
February 5, 2014
Ken_T
Great news, Finally a drug store chain I can fully support! Walgreens will be losing my business.
February 5, 2014
ijoe
what about all the junk food, snacks, beer, alcohol and wine they sell? c'mon
February 5, 2014
jlanda
Fantastic ... More stores should take a stand!
February 5, 2014
just me
Such awesome news! Progress!
February 5, 2014
dealnewsgrub
Many more to come, hopefully!
February 5, 2014