BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - Tops Markets found a workaround to Erie County's recent ban on tobacco sales at pharmacies.
By selling cigarettes and other tobacco products at its gas kiosks, Tops can still legally sell tobacco products, even though March 1 was the first day that tobacco sales at pharmacies became illegal across the entire county. Gas kiosks do not have a pharmacy element.
Erie County banned the sale of tobacco at these places in December as part of the "Public Health Protection Act". In addition to the sales ban, it also prohibits smoking in a vehicle with anyone under age 18 and it bans smoking in or next to NFTA bus shelters.
A Tops spokesperson told us that gas stations are a separate entity from the grocery stores and operate as two completely separate businesses.
"We are in full compliance with the law," Kathy Sautter, Public Relations Manager with Tops Friendly Markets, told WBEN. "At the very end of February, all of our stores that did have pharmacies began pulling the product from the shelves to be compliant."
WBEN looked at three examples of Tops markets with both a gas kiosk and pharmacy component to them. The Tops Markets at 890 Young Street in Tonawanda, 1740 Sheridan Drive in Buffalo, and 6150 South Park Avenue in Hamburg, all have separate licenses for tobacco. However, New York State only updated the license list as of February 26, meaning the store itself will have lost its tobacco license, though the gas kiosks still retain them.
Sautter said there was 11 gas stations that were correlated with the 22 stores that had pharmacies inside of them.
"We were pleased that Erie County took such a positive role in the health and welfare of the citizens of the county," Billoni added. "We hope that more government entities...do what we try to do everyday which is curb the availability and use of tobacco. We know every time a person stops smoking or stops using tobacco...moves the community further to the side of health."
In New York State, there are approximately 54 Tops gas stations. Most of those gas stations are in Western New York. Tops also has three gas stations in Pennsylvania. The tobacco ban at pharmacies only applies to pharmacies within Erie County or any municipality that has a similar ban in place.
We reached out to members of the Erie County Legislature who voted for the bill for their thoughts on the Tops selling tobacco products but they declined comment. We were unable to coordinate an interview with the Erie County Department of Health.