The discounter Lidl is banning a complete range of products from its range in Denmark. Do German customers also have to adapt to changes?
Dortmund – In neighbouring Denmark, Lidl has made a drastic decision. In the land of the Vikings, a certain "stimulant" will soon no longer be found in the discounter's shopping cart, as RUHR24 knows.
Lidl throws tobacco products out of its range – millions of people affected
About two years after the ban on the sale of tobacco products at Lidl in the Netherlands, the "glow sticks" are now also extinguishing in Denmark. By 2028, cigarettes and the like will disappear from the shelves of the discounter in the Scandinavian neighboring country.
A first tobacco-free branch opened on Thursday (11 May) in Hjørring, in the north of the country. All other new stores of the discounter will refrain from selling tobacco from the beginning.
Lidl Denmark: Discounter will stop selling cigarettes and tobacco products by 2028
The decision to stop selling tobacco products in the future is an important step towards a smoke-free future, Khalil Jehya Taleb (deputy purchasing manager at Lidl Denmark) told the Ritzau news agency.
He adds: "At Lidl, we want to be responsible retailers and our customers expect us to be a responsible food chain." The discounter has already reduced the range of cigarettes in existing stores by 20 percent before they will be completely a thing of the past in 2028.
Lidl Denmark no longer sells cigarettes and tobacco products – customers in Germany also affected?
According to Lidl, it operates 139 stores in Denmark – 60 more are to be added in the next few years. Niels Them Kjær, project manager for tobacco prevention at the Danish Cancer Society, hopes that "Lidl's initiative will spread to the rest of the food industry," the scientist is quoted as saying by Ritzau.
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The discounter Lidl has decided to stop selling tobacco products in Denmark by 2028. © Francis Joseph Dean/Dean Pictures/Imago
He continues: "It is a big step towards banning tobacco from the supermarket and could one day lead to a definitive stop to tobacco and nicotine sales." It is unlikely that Lidl-Denmark's decision will also have an impact on cigarette sales at the German discounter.
When asked by RUHR24, Lidl Germany announced: "At the moment we are not planning any changes in the range of our tobacco range". However, the company did not want to give any information on the future direction. Although the range of supermarket and discount checkouts has recently been criticized in Germany as well.
Specifically, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) accused retailers of an "unethical form of advertising" due to alcohol sales. "Here, people with alcoholism are specifically endangered," the SPD politician denounced on Twitter at the beginning of February.