As the nation has been taking a fairly supportive stance on smoking for a long time, CVS went ahead and announced today that they will no longer sell tobacco products (well starting in October, not right away). Many are predicting that other drug retailers are likely to follow suit soon enough. Even though tobacco sales account for a lot of revenue in general, not much of it comes from drug retailers it seems. Most smokers go to convenient stores or corner stores to buy their cigarettes usually due to convenience and price. CVS estimates that this decision will cost them around $2 billion in sales each year. Even though that sounds like a large amount to some (most) of us, it only amounts to 2% of their revenues. The effect on earnings per share should come out to above 7 cents for this year. When asked, other drug retailers like Walgreen and Rite aid gave non-committal statements, but never mentioned if they would or would not proceed in the same manner.