Walmart is the latest retailer with plans to stop selling cigarettes. Cigarettes are being removed from Walmart in various markets, including some stores in California, Florida, Arkansas and New Mexico, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Walmart has added more self-checkout registers, as well as other items such as grab-and-go food or candy in place of cigarettes, in some of these stores, the report said.
In 2019, Walmart, which has around 5,000 stores in the United States, raised the minimum wage to buy tobacco to 21 years old and stopped selling e-cigarettes. Sam's Club, owned by Walmart, has also stopped selling cigarettes at most of its stores in recent years, according to the report.
[Read more: Walgreens, Kroger to quit e-cigarette sales]
Walmart did not say how many of its stores have removed tobacco entirely. A spokesperson for Walmart told CNN Business that it made the "business decision" to end tobacco sales in select stores "as a result of our ongoing focus on the tobacco category."
Public health advocates have long urged retailers to stop selling tobacco products, and some cities and states have also banned tobacco sales in pharmacies.
More than two dozen state attorneys general in 2014 sent letters to large retailers with pharmacies, including Walmart, to end tobacco sales.
"There is a contradiction in having these dangerous and devastating tobacco products on the shelves of a retail chain that services healthcare needs," the letters said.
In 2014, CVS said it would stop selling tobacco. At the time, CVS said the move would cost it an estimated $2 billion in revenue.
CVS said selling tobacco was "inconsistent with our purpose" of being a healthcare provider, the report said.
Last year, Walgreens CEO Roz Brewer said tobacco sales were under "real scrutiny right now. And so you'll see more to come in that area," according to the report.
Costco sells tobacco in some stores. Target ended tobacco sales in 1996.