Walgreens will keep selling tobacco products

The nation’s No. 1 drugstore has no plans to stop selling tobacco products and said its main focus is trying to help people kick the habit, Walgreens executives told shareholders at Wednesday’s annual meeting.

“We do deliberate this on a regular basis,” said cxecutive chairman James Skinner. “Our main focus is to try to get people to quit smoking, and we provide a lot of opportunities in stores to do that,” he said, adding, “We also provide (products) for consumers who decide they want to smoke.”

Walgreens’ stance contradicts the move by chief competitor CVS last year to remove tobacco products from its shelves.

Chicago Tribune

This story was originally published January 27, 2016 at 2:37 PM with the headline "Walgreens will keep selling tobacco products."