CVS announced last Wednesday that the drugstore will stop selling tobacco products as of Oct. 1 of this year. The move comes as the company tries to enhance its image as a health care provider.
More and more Americans are becoming familiar with the idea of receiving health care in store clinics, like CVS’s minute clinics. The clinics are able to supply many services to patrons including the ability to diagnose and write prescriptions for common illnesses and distribute flu shots.
“They (minute clinics) are just more convenient than going to a doctor’s office,” Emily Abbott, a Chicago resident who works near DePaul’s Loop Campus, said. “I was able to stop by on a whim after work to get a flu shot. Also they can take my insurance, so that just makes everything easier.”
“CVS Caremark is playing an expanded role in providing care through our pharmacists and nurse practitioners,” Larry J. Merlo the President and CEO of CVS Caremark said in a press release.
“The significant action we’re taking today by removing tobacco products from our retail shelves further distinguishes us in how we are serving our patients, clients and health care providers and better positions us for continued growth in the evolving health care marketplace.”
The company says that they will lose about $2 billion in sales a year from removing tobacco products from their stores. That number includes gum and other products that a customer coming into a CVS would buy when picking up a pack of cigarettes. $2 billion, however, is a mere scratch in the company’s profits, having $123 billion in overall sales in 2012.
“It will probably influence my decision of where to shop,” Robert O’Neil, DePaul senior., said “I’ll probably end up going to somewhere that I can just pick up everything I need at once, and that includes cigarettes a lot of the time.”
While the store will lose some business, the choice to stop selling tobacco products is being commended in the medical community. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius called the decision an “unprecedented step in the retail industry” in a statement. She continued to stress the importance of keeping tobacco out of the hands of America’s youth.
“Nearly 500,000 Americans die early each year due to smoking, and smoking costs us $289 billion annually,” Sebelius said. “Each day, more than 3,200 youth under age 18 in the United States try their first cigarette and more than 700 kids under age 18 become daily smokers. If we fail to reverse course, 5.6 million American children alive today will die prematurely due to smoking.”
In addition to taking tobacco off of its shelves, CVS announced that it would be undertaking a national tobacco cessation program in the spring.
“Every day, all across the country, customers and patients place their trust in our 26,000 pharmacists and nurse practitioners to serve their health care needs,” Helena B. Foulkes, President of CVS pharmacy said in the press release. “Removing tobacco products from our stores is an important step in helping Americans to quit smoking and get healthy.”