Chicago Residents Cross the Border for Tobacco

The recent Cook County cigarette tax increase has many residents visiting other counties to purchase cigarettes ? much to the delight of neighboring tobacco retailers.

March 19, 2013

DEKALB, IL - Local tobacco stores, which are less than an hour??s drive from Chicago and Cook County, are seeing a spike in sales following a recent increase in the county??s cigarette tax, Northern Star reports.

Patrick Garcia, who works at a local tobacco store, said Cook County??s tax increase has definitely had a positive effect on his store??s sales. "We have been getting a good amount of customers who travel this way for work," he said. "We have a lot of people from the city who will buy cigarettes out here before they go home because it??s cheaper here."

Greg Lawson, owner of another local tobacco store, said his store has also benefitted from Cook County??s tax increase. "Compared to Chicago??s prices, people are amazed at how much cheaper we are out here," he said. "We get a lot of Chicago people that come out here, so the fact that we have such a good deal on Newports I??d say gets us a positive response from customers."

Meanwhile, sales of roll-your-own cigarettes and electronic cigarettes have also increased, thanks to a statewide $1 a pack increase that took effect last June.

"Ever since the increase in the end of June where they had a dollar increase in the state, I??ve had a lot of people switching to making their own cigarettes," said Muhammad Mustafa, owner of Smoker??s World in DeKalb. "I have a lot more inventory of roll-your-own tobacco, rolling machines and empty cigarette tubes, things like that. I??ve been selling quite a bit more of that, and it??s a much cheaper way to smoke."

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