Norwegian convenience stores to phase out sales of cigarettes
Two of Norway’s most well-known convenience store chains, Narvesen and 7-Eleven, will stub out the sale of cigarettes in the long term.
Reitan Convenience Norway, the company that owns the two chains, is set to phase out cigarette sales and ultimately stop selling them, business news publication E24 reports.
“We already see a declining demand for cigarettes and want to contribute to phasing this out in the long term,” Anniken Staubo at Reitan Convenience Norway told the paper.
The announcement came after sister company Reitan Convenience Sweden said that it would also stop selling cigarettes. The Norwegian arm of the business said cigarette sales would be phased out by 2026.
“Just like Reitan Convenience Sweden, we are also not going to take in new products and brands in this category from 2026,” Staubo said.
Staubo added that the vision to phase out cigarettes was part of the company’s overall sustainability strategy.
“There are major environmental and social sustainability challenges in the production of tobacco. We plan for a gradual phasing out of cigarettes in our range and follow the development of any new changes in rules and laws,” Staubo said.
The UK and New Zealand have both spoken of introducing laws to ban young people from buying tobacco.
Norgesgruppen, which owns Norway’s other prominent convenience store chain, Joker, has said it had no concrete plans to phase out the sale of cigarettes.
Since 2017, the number of young people who smoke daily in Norway has fallen, while there has been a steady increase in the number of people using snus.
Figures from the national data agency, Statistics Norway, show that in 2023 the proportion of people who used snus daily was 16 percent, compared to just 7 percent of people aged between 16 and 74 who smoked cigarettes every day.
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Reitan Convenience Norway, the company that owns the two chains, is set to phase out cigarette sales and ultimately stop selling them, business news publication E24 reports.
“We already see a declining demand for cigarettes and want to contribute to phasing this out in the long term,” Anniken Staubo at Reitan Convenience Norway told the paper.
The announcement came after sister company Reitan Convenience Sweden said that it would also stop selling cigarettes. The Norwegian arm of the business said cigarette sales would be phased out by 2026.
“Just like Reitan Convenience Sweden, we are also not going to take in new products and brands in this category from 2026,” Staubo said.
Staubo added that the vision to phase out cigarettes was part of the company’s overall sustainability strategy.
“There are major environmental and social sustainability challenges in the production of tobacco. We plan for a gradual phasing out of cigarettes in our range and follow the development of any new changes in rules and laws,” Staubo said.
The UK and New Zealand have both spoken of introducing laws to ban young people from buying tobacco.
Norgesgruppen, which owns Norway’s other prominent convenience store chain, Joker, has said it had no concrete plans to phase out the sale of cigarettes.
Since 2017, the number of young people who smoke daily in Norway has fallen, while there has been a steady increase in the number of people using snus.
Figures from the national data agency, Statistics Norway, show that in 2023 the proportion of people who used snus daily was 16 percent, compared to just 7 percent of people aged between 16 and 74 who smoked cigarettes every day.
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