Albert Heijn to stop selling knives and tobacco products
It will no longer be possible to buy knives in their supermarkets starting from the end of next week. The company decided this due to the "increasing aggression in society," a spokesperson told NH Nieuws.
There were a large number of stabbing incidents involving teenagers in the Netherlands over the last few years. In 2020 already, the mayor of Zaanstad in Noord-Holland, Jan Hamming, called on retail chains to stop selling knives, especially to minors, NH Nieuws reported.
The Ministry of Justice and Security is working on a law that will prohibit the carrying of general-use knives in public spaces, as well as the sale of knives to minors. In anticipation of a national ban on knives, Groningen, Winterswijk, Middelburg, Vlissingen, and Amsterdam decided earlier to introduce a general ban on knives.
In a press release published on Friday, the company also announced that cigarettes and other tobacco products will no longer be available at the supermarket chain from January 1st. Online sales have already stopped since the beginning of this month. A nationwide ban on supermarkets selling cigarettes will take effect on July 1, 2024.
“Albert Heijn supports the movement towards a smoke-free generation. To achieve a lasting behavioral change and a smoke-free generation, it's important that all selling parties and other involved actors, big and small, work together in this endeavor," the chain stated.
Kruidvat was the first large chain in the Netherlands to stop selling cigarettes in 2018. LIDL followed suit later that year. The supermarket chain already had a limited range of tobacco products, and their sale was no longer profitable.
Successive Cabinets in the Netherlands have already put in place many measures to discourage smoking, from bans in bars and restaurants to forbidding the use of cigarettes on train platforms. Supermarkets were ordered last year to stop publicly displaying all tobacco products. From 2024, grocery stores will not be allowed to sell any smoking products.
