Albert Heijn

By Eva Schouten & Noémi van de Pol

Jan 22, 2024 at 5:06 am

For years, tobacco shops disappeared from the streets, but that trend has come to a standstill. Since last year, the number of cases has increased again for the first time in more than ten years.

This has everything to do with the fact that supermarkets are no longer allowed to sell tobacco as of July 1. The new businesses can often be found a stone’s throw from the supermarket.

Opinions differ on exactly how many tobacco shops there are in the Netherlands, although the increase in shops is beyond dispute. Trade organization NSO Retail puts it at around 1,600. “In the past there were many times more,” says director Janwillem Burgering. That decline will come to a standstill in 2023. “On balance, several dozen have now been added.”

These are mainly stores under the name Tabac & Gifts. “We are growing fast,” says Desmond Terlien of the association of tobacco and convenience stores. While this formula still had 24 stores 3.5 years ago, now there are almost a hundred. “These are not all new locations,” says Terlien. There are also switchers who previously sold tobacco under a different name.

Locations close to supermarkets are popular

But now that it is almost forbidden to sell tobacco in supermarkets, more and more entrepreneurs are also registering to open a new store. Albert Heijn’s own stores stopped selling cigarettes and rolling tobacco on January 1. “There are certainly entrepreneurs who think they can earn a living by selling tobacco. And they are looking for locations near supermarkets. That’s where the largest volume is.”

Terlien expects a strong increase in the number of new points of sale until July 1. “After that the cards will have been shuffled.” He thinks that about 250 new points of sale will be added. “There will be fewer than anticipated,” says Burgering of trade organization NSO. “When the supermarket ban was announced, it was said that this would lead to five hundred new points of sale, but I really don’t see that happening.”

The ban on the sale of tobacco in supermarkets means that more than six thousand sales locations for cigarettes and rolling tobacco will disappear. Tobacco is also sold at thousands of gas stations, which is allowed until 2030. From 2032 it will only be sold in real tobacco specialty stores, so no longer in so-called convenience stores such as Primera and Bruna.

Image: NU.nl

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28 dec 2023 om 12:25

From January 1, you can no longer buy cigarettes and other tobacco products at Albert Heijn. Although tobacco sales at supermarkets will only be prohibited on July 1, the largest supermarket chain in the Netherlands will stop selling it six months earlier.

From July next year you can only buy cigarettes and other smoking products at gas stations and tobacconists. From 2030, even sales at petrol stations will be prohibited. With this policy, the government is trying to discourage smoking as much as possible. Several measures have been taken in recent years to achieve this.

On July 1, Albert Heijn stopped selling smoking products online. Now it’s the shops’ turn. On January 1, not only will the sale of tobacco be stopped, but also the sale of all related items, such as vapes. The supermarket chain says it is anticipating the legislation because it wants to help customers with a healthier lifestyle.

However, the Albert Heijn around the corner may still sell cigarettes after January 1. Some branches are franchise stores. This means that those stores are run by independent entrepreneurs. They can decide for themselves whether they will stop selling tobacco in January, or whether they will wait until July. The same applies to petrol stations with an AH to go.

Albert Heijn is not the first supermarket chain in the Netherlands to stop selling tobacco. Lidl stopped selling cigarettes completely in 2021.

Image: NU.nl

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Tobacco and smokingAlbert HeijnEconomy
2023-12-28 11:25:52
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Albert Heijn wants to pay the staff in the distribution centers 10 percent more. The supermarket chain has informed the unions of this, but according to AH they do not want to return to the negotiating table.

2023-05-02 08:50:20
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