Walmart will end cigarette sales at some (but not all) U.S. stores, including in California. That’s according to the Wall Street Journal, which cites “people familiar with the matter.”
Walmart has been wrestling for years with what to do about tobacco products. On the one hand, many of its customers smoke. On the other, well, it’s a product that, when used as directed by the manufacturer, can kill you.
“We are always looking at ways to meet our customers’ needs while still operating an efficient business,” a Walmart spokeswoman told the Journal.
She declined to say how many locations will continue to sell cigarettes.
The Journal says cigarettes are being ousted from Walmart stores in California, Florida, Arkansas and New Mexico.
Cigarettes are linked to nearly half a million U.S. deaths annually. Cigarette sales totaled about $95 billion last year.
Walmart is behind the curve in terms of a leading drugstore operator abandoning tobacco products. CVS Health made the move in 2014. Target did so in 1996.
It’s estimated that Walmart supercenters and other mixed retailers accounted for 14% of U.S. cigarette sales in 2020.
Like other leading pharmacy chains, Walmart is positioning itself as a key provider of “wellness” options.
The company is opening primary-care clinics, hosting wellness promotions that include free health screenings, and has administered millions of Covid-19 vaccines.
Cigarette sales aren’t a good fit for such aspirations.
The question now is whether Walmart will fully cut ties with Big Tobacco, or whether the retail giant will continue trying to have it both ways — healing and harming customers simultaneously.