Smoking Ban Driving A Surge In Tobacco Sales

Oh dear.

Tobacco makes a comeback in convenience

The squeeze on consumer spending and new anti-smoking laws could actually have helped boost tobacco sales in local shops in the past 12 months, Convenience Store’s latest product survey has revealed.

Some 27% of the independent c-store retailers surveyed said that tobacco was their best performing product category of 2009 – up from 23% the previous year.

Retailers have attributed the rise to factors including the ban on smoking in public places, which has reduced sales in pubs and clubs as more people buy from stores to smoke at home.

Confectionery was rated the top-performing category of 2009, with a quarter of retailers saying they expected tobacco to take over the top spot in 2010.

What was that you were saying about halving smokers by 2020, Burnham?