Someone told Thakshila Somaskandarajah that the April 6 deadline for the tobacco display ban was just for England. As she trades in Cardiff (AJ’s Best Bargains) she rang for clarification. I can see that some might think Wales gets a different date because, when the display bans for bigger stores came into force, there were varying dates for all four parts of the UK, ranging from April 2012 to April 2013.

I turned to ACS for its excellent display ban advice on its website. The introduction does only mention ‘England’ but that is because it begins with the earliest ban for big stores back in April 2012. And, as we know, there followed three other dates. But on closer reading it goes on to state: “All other shops and businesses selling tobacco products will be affected from April 6, 2015.”

So it’s curtains for all of you, which brings me to the second part of Thakshila’s question. Where can she get an economical cover up? She is feeling picked on because she believes those who can afford to buy doors are the ones getting the freebies from the big tobacco companies; although Nicolites offered her free doors if she could sell £150-worth of e-cigs.

It is true that the only ones gaining are the companies offering cover-ups online; shedloads offering solutions from £50 to £1K+.

I sent her off to the Tobacco Retailers’ Alliance to see if they had any good recommendations. And I throw it out to the wide audience of C-Store readers - what is her best option?

Topics