Chains: follow Lidl’s lead on cigarettes

 

Amanda Sandford Research manager, ASH Sir; It was encouraging to read that discount chain Lidl has decided to stop selling tobacco in all of its stores across the UK (‘Cigarettes ditched at Lidl in Scotland’, The Grocer, 3 November, p11). This is a welcome move and one that I would urge other retailers to follow. As supermarkets strive to compete with their claims of sustainability and healthy options, the sale of such a deadly consumer product substantially weakens their claims. Fewer than a quarter of the British population smokes, yet tobacco is widely available from a multitude of outlets. This widespread availability means children can easily get hold of cigarettes and could also partially explain why rates of smoking among under-16s have barely changed over the past 20 years. It is time retailers started to examine their consciences and not just their profits. They may well decide, as Lidl has done, that selling tobacco is no longer compatible with the image and ethos they wish to convey.

 

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