As of today, cigarettes and other smoking products will no longer be on the shelves of hundreds of Albert Heijn stores. The retail chain will stop selling tobacco in most locations.
Albert Heijn replaced supermarket chain Lidl, which stopped selling tobacco two years ago. That’s why they are waiting for July 1. As of this date, the sale of tobacco products in supermarkets will no longer be allowed.
While supermarkets are removing cigarettes from their stores, electronic cigarette sellers are also putting them on their shelves. Since these so-called e-cigarette stores are no longer allowed to sell e-cigarette flavors starting today, much of their business will disappear. To compensate, some retailers have now begun reselling classic cigarettes.
“Selling tobacco is a big step”
According to Emil ‘t Hart, president of the trade association of electronic cigarette sellers, the sale of these cigarettes actually violates their own policies. “Tobacco is exactly what many entrepreneurs struggle with. “They want to help people quit smoking by selling e-cigarettes.”
Monique Kant from E-cig4u at Woudrichem now also includes classic tobacco in her product range. “With the pain in my heart,” she says. “We hope that customers who come to the store to buy cigarettes will now see that there is an alternative to e-cigarettes.”
In the last few days of the year, his store received many visitors looking to stock e-cigarette flavors. “It is clear that there is hoarding. Sometimes people come to buy 300 pieces at once,” he tells NOS Radio 1 Journal this morning.
The Electronic Cigarette Sellers Trade Association expects dozens of stores to take steps to sell cigarettes. Entrepreneurs assume that tobacco sales will continue to increase only if more and more supermarkets stop selling tobacco.
“We’re going to see a big change,” said Abe Brandsma, a spokesman for tobacco maker Philip Morris. Supermarkets sold more than half of all cigarettes in recent years. Sales are estimated at over 2.5 billion euros.
“Extremely immoral”
Esther Croes, a doctor and epidemiologist at Trimbos, believes the supermarket ban will be effective. “If tobacco is sold where people buy their daily needs, smoking will become normal. “Then it’s like smoking is part of it.” Croes says it’s also difficult for smokers who want to quit to pass by a cigarette every time they go shopping.
He calls it “highly immoral” that e-cigarette sellers now sell traditional cigarettes in stores. “They claim to sell e-cigarettes to smokers to help them quit,” says Croes. “But now they will sell tobacco to maintain their market share. I really don’t have words for this.
Philip Morris sees it differently. “We think it is fundamentally positive that sales are made through specialist tobacco shops. A spokesman for the cigarette maker said customers there could be better informed about less harmful alternatives to cigarettes and rolling tobacco.
Source: NOS
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
