Bowman's Markets in Kaysville and Farmington will pull beer and cigarettes from their grocery shelves beginning Monday in an effort to discourage teenage smoking and drinking.
Bowman's President Richard C. Bowman said the stores' board of directors voted unanimously Friday to stop selling alcohol and tobacco products in both stores."This is a very brave, very risky thing to do," said Patty Cassell, Davis County's health promotion specialist. "We hope it might have a ripple effect and inspire other businessmen to do the same thing."
The Kaysville store will lose quarterly payments of about $1,000 from cigarette companies for displaying their products, Bowman said.
The Kaysville store now has cigarette sales of about $100,000 per year, and annual beer sales of about $50,000, he said. Losses for the Farmington store will be less, but Bowman did not give an estimate.
Bowman said the idea came to him after Davis County Board of Health officials found that Farmington's grocery stores were the worst violators when it came to selling tobacco products to underage buyers.
State law prohibits sales to those under age 19.
Underage buyers successfully bought tobacco products at area stores, including the Farmington Bowman's outlet.
"That really embarrassed me greatly," Bowman said. "I went to the city and the board of health and apologized, and let them know we want to cooperate. I guess it was after my long talk with (Health Director E. Arnold Isaacson) that I thought, "Why are we selling these products?' "
He said Isaacson told him 80 percent of the teenagers who use tobacco daily start at age 13.
"A 13-year-old isn't going to try to buy cigarettes, he's going to steal them," Bowman said. "We don't have the facilities to control the thefts . . .."
At 10 a.m. Monday, Bowman plans to clear the tobacco and alcohol products out of the Kaysville store, then at about noon will start on the Farmington store.