After plans were announced to significantly restrict the sale of tobacco and limit sale points to pharmacies and selected retailers, dairies and other small businesses fear they might have to shut, reports Stuff.

Dairy and convenience store owners are becoming increasingly worried after the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Action Plan proposals, which include limiting tobacco sales to specific stores or pharmacies were made public.
“If they think moving tobacco will help, it's not going to help, it’s going to punish dairy owners,” said Sunny Kaushal, president of the Crime Prevention Group that was formed to deal with the increasing cases of dairy robberies.
“Dairies will go out of business. If the revenue is gone, how can they survive? We urge the Government to review this proposal and not take a hasty decision which could impact so heavily on small businesses,” he stressed.
According to Stuff, Greg Harford, managing director of NZ Retail, said the sector was supportive of the government’s smoke-free goal, however dairies and other small would suffer if tobacco sales were taken away them.
“What people need to understand is that tobacco sales make up a significant proportion of turnover in a lot of small businesses, particularly dairies in small communities. If you take the ability to sell those products away, you will be undermining the viability of those small businesses.
“Often, they are the only shop in an area. […] Communities could lose their small stores and the social interaction that many remote residents rely on,” he said.