Costco Quietly Cuts down on Tobacco Products

Source from:  KTVZ.COM 03/18/2016

According to TheStreet.com, which said it is a digital financial media company, Costco now only sells tobacco products in 189 of its 488 locations. The wholesale chain told the site that it didn't believe tobacco products would be pulled from all of its warehouses "anytime soon."

"We're not phasing out of tobacco," Bob Nelson, Costco's vice-president of financial planning and investor relations toldFortunein an interview. "There's no grand phase-out plan. For all merchandise, we have regional reviews on a quarterly basis."

Smoking rates have sharply declined over the past decade, from 20.9% of American adults in 2005 to 16.8% in 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It wouldn't be the first store to drop the products. CVS dropped all of its tobacco products in an effort to reposition itself as a health care company. Enditem