SENATOR LAUDS PETRINI FOR NIXING CIGARETTES

RICHARD TURCSIK

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. -- Petrini Markets' decision to discontinue the sale of cigarettes has been applauded on Capitol Hill.

When Senator Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., discovered the chain, based here, had removed cigarettes from its units, she was so impressed she wrote a letter of congratulations to a store manager. She also sent a copy of the letter to Joseph Coulombe, president and chief executive officer of Provigo Corp., Petrini's Montreal-based parent company.

"While shopping recently at the Bon Air Petrini's, I couldn't help but notice that you are no longer selling cigarettes. I wanted to tell you how delighted I am with this policy, which I understand applies to all stores in the Petrini's chain," Boxer wrote in the letter last month.

"Please accept my congratulations for this courageous marketing decision. You are making a direct contribution to the health and welfare of consumers throughout the Bay Area. I would hope that other retailers recognize the wisdom of your decision by adopting the same policy," the senator said in the letter.

Petrini announced in March that it would stop selling cigarettes in its 17 stores. At the same time, the chain said it would drop certain other nonfood items and services, including greeting cards, batteries and photo finishing, in an effort to fine-tune its image and make room for more fresh and upscale foods.

Coulombe told SN that cigarettes were discontinued because they were only 1% of total sales. To date, he is extremely happy with the decision, he said.

"I have received no negative comments, period. We have received many positive comments in the stores and I have received letters from people saying that they would start shopping with us because of this change," Coulombe said.

"While some shoppers may have been concerned, I have no reason to believe that this is a significant issue. Petrini's locations are in upscale areas where you would expect aversion to smoking to be at its highest level because these are the best educated and most monied people in this area. In a lower income area there might be a different situation," he said.

Petrini had found itself tied up with "hundreds of thousands of dollars" of cigarette inventory, Coulombe said.

"When we announced our decision, we started discounting to get rid of our inventory and after six weeks we still had all these off-brands of cigarettes, so we just pulled them out of the stores. We didn't advertise it; we just announced well in advance that we were going to drop cigarettes," he added. The category had also become a merchandising nightmare for the chain, he said.

"A number of cities in California insist that the cigarettes be kept under lock and key. And if you don't do that, you're asking for trouble because they'll only get stolen. Cigarettes cause a lot of disruption in the checkout line, because the clerk has to deal with the lock and key, and they inevitably pull out the wrong pack of cigarettes," he said.

Removing cigarettes freed space at the checkout, Coulombe said, but the chain decided to leave that space vacant.

"The cigarette cases were in front of our checkstand lanes just jamming up the space. Removing the fixtures has made the front end more workable," he said.