CVS pharmacy
A minute clinic in the CVS on East Brainerd Road is shown in this file photo.CVS Pharmacy announced Wednesday that the drugstore chain will stop selling all tobacco products in its stores by Oct. 1 — leaving the company’s $1.5 billion in annual tobacco sales up for grabs.
Some Chattanooga retailers are ready to snap it up.
“We expect that people who used to get everything in a one-stop-shop over there may come here,” said Kumar Patel, owner of Stop ‘N’ Go Discount Pharmacy and Stop ‘N’ Go Food Mart. He’s right next door to the CVS Pharmacy on Ringgold Road in East Ridge, and he’s hoping tobacco-buying CVS customers will switch their prescriptions to his shop come October.
“We’ve always had cheaper tobacco and cigarette prices than CVS anyway,” he said.
CVS will phase out cigarettes, cigars and chewing tobacco in all of its 7,600 stores nationwide, including the company’s 25 stores in the Chattanooga region. CVS officials hope cutting tobacco will help strengthen the company’s push to become a healthcare provider.