NC store owner: FDA ban would kill my business and put my employees out of work

Readers: In April, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a proposed ban on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars that it says will significantly decrease disease and death from tobacco. We are sharing two op-eds with opposing views on the ban. This one is from a small business owner who operates tobacco stores in North Carolina.

The FDA’s plans to ban the sales of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars won’t stop my customers from enjoying smoking. The result of the ban will cause me to shutter my seven stores and lay off 39 hard-working employees who rely on their jobs to support their families.

As the owner of Blue Ridge Tobacco Stores, with three locations in North Carolina and four in Virginia, I am proud to have such a diverse group of individuals who come to work daily. More than half of my employees are Black and enjoy working here.

Our stores are full-line tobacco shops, with more than 60% of our sales derived from cigarettes, other tobacco products and tobacco-product accessories. All of these sales are fully compliant with the law — especially the requirement that we sell only to adults 21 and older. It’s stores like mine — licensed, regulated and responsible — that have helped reduce the incidence of underage smoking to the lowest levels in my lifetime.

In my stores, menthol cigarettes make up just over 37% of all cigarette sales, and flavored cigars account for 65% of all cigar sales. If the FDA’s regulations go into effect, I estimate that my stores will lose 80% of the sales associated with menthol cigarettes and flavored cigar products.

While the other 20% of sales may shift to non-flavored tobacco products, my stores will lose 80% of current-dollar sales because my customers will find these products from other sources, including illicit market sellers ready to make new illegal profits.

I am a small businessman, and it is our small business that supports my family and our employees’ families. At a time of such significant economic problems, why would our government decide to send all of these sales to criminals that don’t care what they sell or the age of the people they sell to?

I realize the FDA has stated in its proposed regulations that the effects of an illicit market in menthol cigarettes “would be minimal.” I’m afraid I have to disagree with the agency’s conclusion. After 23 years in business, we know our customer base, and when factoring in that millions of Americans choose menthol cigarettes, adults will not let prohibition prevent them from seeking other sources for menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars.

History teaches us that the prohibition of alcohol was a failure, and the FDA should not let history repeat itself.

Moreover, these proposed regulations would discriminate against our diverse customer base. All of our customers have a right to choose what kind of legal products they would like to purchase. Why should the federal government impose its will on, and discriminate against, legal-age adults? For that is what these proposed regulations are: measures that usher in a new wave of prohibition and impose discrimination on our customers.

If these menthol and flavored cigar bans are fully implemented, Blue Ridge Tobacco will be forced to shut down the entire chain of seven stores. I did not start this business so the federal government could put me out of operation and terminate my employees. These discriminatory regulations will do nothing to stop smoking, but they will send my customers to alternative, illegal sources.

Frank Armstrong owns Blue Ridge Tobacco Stores in North Carolina and Virginia. He lives in Winston-Salem.

This story was originally published July 7, 2022 at 12:55 PM.