Cigarettes and Tobacco News

Dec 21, 2006 -- PETERSHAM— Cigarettes are a major moneymaker for many stores, but the Petersham Country Store is drawing a line and standing on the side of ethics over income.

After the first of the year, the store will stop selling them.

The owners believe it is the right thing to do, and hope customers will continue to shop there.

For Michael Lundquist, chief executive officer of the Polus Center for Social and Economic Development in Worcester — which bought the more than 160-year-old store in 2003 — the decision to stop selling cigarettes was easy.

“It’s unhealthy. It makes people sick,” he said. “It’s one thing for a private store owner to sell them, but we are owned and operated by a nonprofit organization focused on helping vulnerable people and people with disabilities.”

Mr. Lundquist said the sale of cigarettes is contrary to the mission of the Polus Center, and even the focus of the store. He acknowledged that other items in the store, such as beer and wine, can harm people. But with cigarettes, it is all bad, he said.

“I see no redeeming qualities in cigarettes,” he said.

Mr. Lundquist used to smoke a pack-and-a-half a day; he quit 10 years ago. His wife, Mary Jo Lundquist, manager of the store, also smoked, and quit 20 years ago.

“My mother died from the direct result of cigarette smoke, so I know the ramifications,” she said.

Mrs. Lundquist said that although her husband was opposed to cigarettes in the store from the time the center bought it, it took a while before they decided to eliminate them.

“It just really doesn’t fit with the Polus Center,” she said.

Among the aims outlined by the center when it bought the store were to raise consciousness about disabilities; supply healthy, organic, and whole foods to town residents; and maintain a comfortable and inviting space for community members.

The elimination of cigarettes is aimed at better accomplishing those goals.

In many other aspects, the store meets those goals.

It is a place where people of all walks of life and views can sit down and have a cup of coffee. Mrs. Lundquist said the morning coffee crowd is evidence of that, with discussions taking many directions and many, often opposing, views.

The coffee they drink is from Dean’s Beans in Orange, “fair trade” coffee, with growers and workers getting fairly compensated for their labors. There also are many organic products and products from businesses such as Newman’s Own, a company owned by actor Paul Newman and actress Joanne Woodward that gives part of its profit to charity.

When the Lundquists decided to end cigarette sales, Mrs. Lundquist said, they were not sure how controversial it would be. The result so far has been only one inquiry. A customer asked if they would be putting their remaining cigarettes on sale to get rid of them.

The answer was yes, they would sell for $5 a pack.

But once they are gone, people will have little option other than traveling to Athol, Templeton or Barre to buy their cigarettes.

Founded in 1978, the Polus Center began working within the state to establish and support households where people with and without disabilities can live in a mutually beneficial relationship, assisting people with disabilities to live and work within the community.

In 1997, the center expanded to humanitarian efforts in Central America. It also operates an economic component, including the Petersham Country Store, to raise money and provide work opportunities.

Mr. Lundquist said many people involved with the purchase of the Country Store for the Polus Center have roots in Petersham and nearby communities. He said he grew up in the town, and four generations of his family have lived in Petersham.

The Latin name Polus means “looking toward the heavens.”