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Costco will phase out tobacco sales in around Puget Sound

SEATTLE — It will be just a little bit harder to get cigarettes in the Puget Sound region.

A spokesman for Costco said some stores in the area will begin phasing out tobacco sales.  Richard Galanti said the company has actually phased out tobacco products at more than 50 percent of all stores across the country.

Galanti said about 90 percent of all the company’s tobacco’s sales are to retailers like convenience stores.  He said Costco does not plan to get out of the cigarette business entirely, adding that selling such a regulated product directly to consumers was increasingly becoming something the company just didn't feel it needed to do everywhere.

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