'No smokes' policy honoured

"We never felt very good about selling those things," said owner Imtiyaz Bakshi.

"We get lots of school children in here to buy their lollies, and we don't want them to see people spending their money on cigarettes."

The store has had a major makeover, and in August Mr Bakshi decided getting rid of the tobacco displays should be part of the new look.

"We have had some negative comments. Some people expect that we are a dairy, so we should sell tobacco. But it's my choice. It's not compulsory."

The move had cost him a few regular customers, but others were positive. Some had even taken the inconvenience of not being able to buy cigarettes at their local store as a prompt to give up.

He said influencing existing smokers was more than he expected to achieve, "but we can do something about future smokers, if the kids don't see it."

His stand has earned him an Asthma Foundation Smokefree Retailers' Award, the first to be presented in Palmerston North.

"I don't want to publicise myself, but it's good if other dairy owners know about it, and they might get encouraged to do the same. Even if they can't stop selling them, they can hide them."

Cancer Society Smokefree Youth Ambassador Deepika Gosai, honoured for her own leadership in the "out of sight, out of mind" campaign to get tobacco displays banned, is delighted with Moshim's decision.

"I think it's really good that the dairy is getting rid of the displays especially because it's in the vicinity of several schools.

"It means that the kids going into the dairy before and after school won't have to be exposed to the cigarette displays."

The award, supported by MidCentral Health, will be presented by Palmerston North MP Iain Lees-Galloway, another champion of the call to get tobacco out of sight to help protect children from starting smoking.

So far about 20 stores around New Zealand have been given awards.

* People can nominate others at smokefreeshops.co.nz

- © Fairfax NZ News