From July 1, cigarettes will no longer be for sale in shops on Schiermonnikoog, it wrote Dagblad van het Noorden on Monday. Supermarket Brunekreef is currently the only place that sells cigarettes, but that too must stop. The owner, Eric Brunekreef, tells the newspaper that he fears gray trade. “Pietje Puk will soon come from the mainland with a suitcase full of cigarettes to set up a business here. Offering cigarettes for one euro each, for example. Do you think they ask buyers if they are sixteen years old?”
About three years ago, the House of Representatives decided to ban the sale of smoking products by Dutch supermarkets. Sales are gradually being phased out in line with the 2018 National Prevention Agreement on improving public health. From next summer, cigarettes will therefore only be available in convenience and tobacco stores: for example, gas station stores, Albert Heijn To Go or Primera. The virtually car-free Schiermonnikoog has neither Primera nor gas station shops.
Although Schiermonnikoog is the smallest municipality in the Netherlands with 950 inhabitants, it attracts around 300,000 tourists every year. The RIVM Darling that in 2022 there would be approximately two hundred regular smokers living on Schiermonnikoog. According to Brunekreef, residents are investigating whether a legal sales point is possible, but a profitable business plan is proving difficult to come up with. The mayor of Schiermonnikoog, Ineke van Gent, has indicated that she will talk to entrepreneurs. “I want to know what their position is. And how we can prevent private sale as much as possible. Especially those for young people.”