Stop & Shop ends cigarette sales: An effective tool to help smokers kick habit, experts say

Stop & Shop’s move to stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products can be effective in helping smokers kick the deadly habit, public health experts say.

The grocery retailer, which has stores across Long Island, made the change, which took effect at the end of August, as part of its "commitment to community wellness," the company said. It joins several other retailers such as CVS that have halted or limited tobacco sales in recent years. 

"Our responsibility as a grocer goes far beyond our aisles, and we are committed to taking bold steps to help our associates, customers, and communities work towards better health outcomes," Gordon Reid, president of Stop & Shop, said in a statement.

Even though smoking rates in the United States have declined over the decades, smoking cigarettes remains a top cause of preventable death nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

So halting sales at retail establishments can be an effective avenue to promote cessation, along with taxes and educational initiatives, according to public health experts.

Lynn Kozlowski, professor emeritus of community health and health behavior at the University at Buffalo, said Stop & Shop’s move may specifically help older smokers, who have higher smoking rates than youths and might be more likely to go to a store to buy cigarettes.

In 2022, the cigarette smoking rate among high school youth was about 2%, marking a 92% decline from 2000 when that rate was about 27%, the state Department of Health said, citing the New York Youth Tobacco Survey.

Meanwhile, adult cigarette smoking prevalence was nearly 11% in New York in 2022, according to a Department of Health survey.

In 2021, the cigarette smoking rate among adults in Nassau County was 7.5% and 9.4% in Suffolk — both among the lowest in the state at the time, according to data from a state survey.

"When you pull the sales, people think about maybe now it’s time to quit," said Kozlowski.

Yet, some experts noted the limitations of simply removing a product. Heavy smokers and others will likely go elsewhere to purchase tobacco products, they say.

But Dr. Norman Edelman, a pulmonologist and professor at Stony Brook University, said a store ceasing tobacco sales could change the habits of a moderate smoker.

"The kind of person who has to have a cigarette with his coffee in the morning, but if he’s traveling or something can do without a cigarette," said Edelman.

Despite progress in reducing smoking rates in younger people, there remains room for progress, Edelman said.

"Unfortunately, there are still a lot of people smoking," he said. "And so, we ... still have a challenge if we’re going to prevent deaths from cigarette smoking."

Whatever the approach, ending tobacco use will always be a critical health step, said Andrea Spatarella, a family nurse practitioner, certified tobacco treatment specialist and assistant professor at Molloy University.

"Driving down the percentages and the prevalence of smoking would be, you know, the most important thing somebody could do for their health," she said.

By Tiffany Cusaac-Smith

tiffany.cusaac-smith@newsday.com@T_Cusaac

Education: Howard University 

Tiffany Cusaac-Smith came to Newsday in 2023 after being a race and history reporter at USA TODAY, where she wrote enterprise and spot articles examining how the past shapes the present. Previously, she worked as the race and justice reporter at the USA TODAY Network of New York, covering issues such as criminal justice reform, housing, environmental justice, health care and politics. At The Journal News/lohud.com in Westchester County, she covered Yonkers, the state's third-largest city. She also worked at The Associated Press in Atlanta.

Honors and Awards: Criminal justice reporting fellowship with the National Press Foundation;  New York News Publishers Association award for distinguished investigative reporting;  Contributed reporting for Best of Gannett honor; Member of Table Stakes, a program funded by the Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund and managed by the American Press Institute to transform local news.