Here in the UK the only shops that sell cigarettes are supermarkets and independent newsagents, and neither is allowed to have them on display - they're on shelves behind the counter with shutters or curtains in front. Some bars have vending machines for them, but even that's becoming quite uncommon. I imagine within a decade supermarkets will have stopped selling them altogether so the few remaining smokers will have to hunt out little backstreet shops that still stock them.
To learn that cigarettes are sold in pharmacies in the USA is frankly incredible.
In the US, Pharmacies are basically just convenience stores with an actual pharmacy/prescription pill-dispensary in the back. Not sure what they are like in the UK, are they more formal?
In the UK, pharmacies sell pharmaceuticals, healthcare, beauty and toiletry products.
I was really surprised when I last visited the US to find a pharmacy with a deli counter, electronics aisles and a fridge full of frosty beers. It really was just a slick, well-stocked convenience store.
We have a store called SuperDrug which is similar, but no tobacco or alcohol. We also have Boots which tend to be bigger than SuperDrug, and again no cigs or booze.
Both of those are similar to I guess Walgreens and CVS, from my limited experience of California.
Pharmacies aren't really a kind of store in the US, they are a department that might be found in a supermarket, big-box general retailer, etc. Even "drug stores" like those operated by CVS are basically a convenience store plus the health and beauty departments of a big general retailer plus a pharmacy. Retail pharmacy is a store feature to generate traffic to sell general consumer products, not the central feature of the store.
CVS/Caremark is trying to be a real healthcare company (Caremark is a massive prescription drug benefit management subsidiary).
But, in some places in the US, CVS the store is more like a general store or even a corner grocery. Some CVS stores do not sell prescription drugs at all.
I buy holiday supplies (Christmas tree lights), birthday cards and chocolates for my wife at CVS. They are always open and usually have a good selection of items. They are never really too crowded either. I'm in the US.
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Here in the UK the only shops that sell cigarettes are supermarkets and independent newsagents, and neither is allowed to have them on display - they're on shelves behind the counter with shutters or curtains in front. Some bars have vending machines for them, but even that's becoming quite uncommon. I imagine within a decade supermarkets will have stopped selling them altogether so the few remaining smokers will have to hunt out little backstreet shops that still stock them.
To learn that cigarettes are sold in pharmacies in the USA is frankly incredible.
In the US, Pharmacies are basically just convenience stores with an actual pharmacy/prescription pill-dispensary in the back. Not sure what they are like in the UK, are they more formal?
In the UK, pharmacies sell pharmaceuticals, healthcare, beauty and toiletry products.
I was really surprised when I last visited the US to find a pharmacy with a deli counter, electronics aisles and a fridge full of frosty beers. It really was just a slick, well-stocked convenience store.
We have a store called SuperDrug which is similar, but no tobacco or alcohol. We also have Boots which tend to be bigger than SuperDrug, and again no cigs or booze.
Both of those are similar to I guess Walgreens and CVS, from my limited experience of California.
Pharmacies aren't really a kind of store in the US, they are a department that might be found in a supermarket, big-box general retailer, etc. Even "drug stores" like those operated by CVS are basically a convenience store plus the health and beauty departments of a big general retailer plus a pharmacy. Retail pharmacy is a store feature to generate traffic to sell general consumer products, not the central feature of the store.
CVS/Caremark is trying to be a real healthcare company (Caremark is a massive prescription drug benefit management subsidiary).
But, in some places in the US, CVS the store is more like a general store or even a corner grocery. Some CVS stores do not sell prescription drugs at all.
I buy holiday supplies (Christmas tree lights), birthday cards and chocolates for my wife at CVS. They are always open and usually have a good selection of items. They are never really too crowded either. I'm in the US.
Vending machines were outlawed a couple of years ago:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15132529