Walgreens Boots Alliance is testing tobacco-free stores in the U.S., but the pharmacy chain’s leader has no plans to quit selling cigarettes entirely
Most cigarettes in the U.S. are sold at gas stations and convenience stores. Drugstores accounted for 1.7% of cigarette volume sales in the U.S. in 2017. Photo: Christopher Lee/Bloomberg News By Aisha Al-Muslim March 31, 2019 12:24 p.m. ET Under pressure from federal regulators and some investors, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. WBA 1.22% is testing tobacco-free stores in the U.S., but the pharmacy chain’s leader has no plans to quit selling cigarettes entirely.
While it continues to sell cigarettes in the vast majority of its stores, Mr. Pessina said Walgreens is trying to help smokers quit by also making smoking cessation products widely available. Employees are encouraged to direct customers seeking cigarettes to cessation products. The pharmacy chain has also reduced the visibility of tobacco products in some stores.
Outside North America, the company’s Boots pharmacies don’t sell tobacco products. But unlike rival CVS Health Corp. CVS 1.07% , which stopped selling tobacco products in 2014, Walgreens sells cigarettes, electronic cigarettes and other tobacco products in most of its roughly 9,600 U.S. stores. “There is no reason that anyone needs tobacco products, so we do not think that they need to sell tobacco at all,” said Donna Meyer, director of shareholder advocacy for Mercy Investment Services Inc., which manages funds for a Roman Catholic order of nuns. Ms. Meyer raised the issue with Walgreens executives during the company’s shareholder meeting in New York in late January.
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