Charlotte Walmarts, Sam’s Clubs Raising Age For Tobacco-Buyers

CHARLOTTE, NC — Days after Walgreens and Rite Aid said they would raise the age to buy tobacco products, Walmart and Sam’s Club— with 13 locations in the Charlotte area — announced they will do the same. Beginning July 1, all Walmart and Sam’s Club stores nationwide will bump the minimum age requirement to buy tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, to 21, John Scudder, U.S. chief compliance and ethics officer, said in a news release Wednesday.

The move comes after the retail giant said it received a letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration about its policies to prevent underage buyers from getting their hands on tobacco and electronic nicotine. Walmart has a “robust” compliance program, Scudder said, but noted the company is unsatisfied with “falling short” of its goal of 100 percent compliance. In other words, Walmart plans to do more.

“Even a single sale to a minor is one too many, and we take seriously our responsibilities in this regard,” wrote Scudder. “So today, we sent a letter back to the FDA outlining additional measures we’re taking to keep tobacco out of the hands of minors.”

The age-bump requirement is among those measures. The company also plans to stop selling fruity and dessert-flavored electronic nicotine delivery systems, and strengthen disciplinary action for failed secret-shopper checks designed to catch cashiers who are selling tobacco products to people who are underage. These cashiers could be fired.

In Scudder’s letter to the FDA, he said the federal agency conducted about 12,800 compliance checks involving kids at both Walmart and Sam’s Club stores since 2010. The chains passed 93 percent and 99 percent of those checks, respectively, he said. Last year, Walmart stores passed 94 percent of the checks while Sam’s Club passed 100 percent.

Walmart joins CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid, among others, in announcing age bumps. Walgreens will stop selling tobacco products to people under 21 beginning Sept. 1. Rite Aid plans to implement the policy at all stores by July 22.

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease, disability and death among Americans, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As of 2017, about 34 million adults smoked cigarettes, and nearly 90 percent of smokers tried their first smoke by age 18.

North Carolina Public Health officials say that about 28.8 percent of high school students in the state using some form of tobacco product.

Here are the Walmart and Sam’s Club locations in Charlotte:

• Walmart Supercenter, 3850 E. Independence Blvd.
• Walmart Neighborhood Market, 8800 East W.T. Harris Blvd.
• Walmart, 9101 Albemarle Road
• Walmart Supercenter, 7735 N. Tryon St.
• Walmart Supercenter, 1830 Galleria Blvd.
• Walmart Supercenter, 3240 Wilkinson Blvd.
• Walmart, 3209 Pineville MAtthews Road
• Walmart Neighborhood Market, 11530 N. Tryon St.
• Walmart Neighborhood Market, 8322 Pineville Matthews Rd.
• Walmart Supercenter, 8180 S. Tryon St.
• Sam’s Club, 8909 J. W. Clay Blvd., Charlotte
• Sam’s Club, 1801 Windsor Square Dr., Matthews
• Sam’s Club, 11425 Carolina Place Pkwy., Pineville

Scott Gottlieb, who recently resigned as the head of the FDA, previously said in a release that everyone plays a role in keeping harmful and addictive tobacco products out of the hands of kids.

“Retailers in particular – especially those who position themselves as health-and-wellness-minded businesses – are on the frontlines of these efforts and must take that legal obligation seriously,” said Gottlieb.

About a dozen states — in addition to hundreds of cities — have raised the tobacco-buying age to 21, according to The New York Times. In 2014, CVS notably became the first national retail pharmacy chain to stop selling tobacco products in all stores.

RELATED: Charlotte Walgreens, Rite Aid Raise Age For Tobacco-Buying

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.