--- description: A look at the players in the growing US tobacco market - the biggest may surprise you. title: See Who Really Runs the US Cigarette Game image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5ea7122ddd746b2/6986a23de8524b9c91604937/146242512.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Retail](/tag/retail/) ## Retail Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # See Who Really Runs the U.S. Cigarette Game by [Michael Lester](/author/michael-lester/) and [Bill Saporito](/author/bill-saporito/) Sep 5, 2014 10:48 PM CUT  Cigarette CigaretteGetty Images by [Michael Lester](/author/michael-lester/) and [Bill Saporito](/author/bill-saporito/) Sep 5, 2014 10:48 PM CUT When CVS Caremark announced it was [ending sales](http://time.com/3262395/cvs-tobacco-cigarettes-sales/ "undefined") of cigarettes and tobacco products in stores, it was viewed as another step in the drive to get Americans healthy. But despite CVS leaving the tobacco market, the number of stores selling tobacco products nationwide has actually increased. Twenty-eight attorneys general across the country have already [asked](http://www.ag.ny.gov/pdfs/Letter%5Fto%5FKroger.pdf "undefined") major pharmacies to stop selling tobacco alongside medicine, a request that has so far been rebuffed. About 86% of the sales of cigarettes nationwide come from bodegas, delis and convenience stores. And the nation’s largest distributor has a new owner in one of America’s wealthiest citizens. See the video above for more. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3275845/us-cigarette-sales/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3275845/us-cigarette-sales/"},"headline":"See Who Really Runs the U.S. Cigarette Game","datePublished":"2014-09-05T22:48:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-30T11:35:39.259Z","description":"A look at the players in the growing US tobacco market—the biggest may surprise you","url":"https://time.com/3275845/us-cigarette-sales/","keywords":["Retail"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5ea7122ddd746b2/6986a23de8524b9c91604937/146242512.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michael Lester","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/michael-lester/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Bill Saporito","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/bill-saporito/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5ea7122ddd746b2/6986a23de8524b9c91604937/146242512.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Cigarette","caption":"Cigarette","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/retail/","name":"Retail"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3275845/us-cigarette-sales/","name":"See Who Really Runs the U.S. Cigarette Game"}}]}] ```