UK: Major Retailer Pulling Tobacco from Scottish Stores

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 08/02/2012

The huge UK retailer, Sainsbury's, has stopped selling cigarettes in three of its Scottish superstores as it continues to review the tobacco category in the wake of the Scottish government's health levy, according to a story by Ronan Hegarty for The Grocer. The levy applies to all stores with a ratable value of over ￡300,000 that sell alcohol and tobacco. The retailer has removed all tobacco products from stores in the Blackhall and Murrayfield areas of Edinburgh and Braehead near Glasgow, but will continue to sell tobacco from the petrol forecourt stores at Braehead and Murrayfield. Last month it took tobacco out of its Sainsbury's Local store at St Andrew Square in the heart of Edinburgh. So far, Sainsbury's is the only retailer to react to the levy, but The Grocer said it understood that Sainsbury's rivals were monitoring the situation closely. Enditem