Larry J. Merlo

Melissa Campanelli is Editor-in-Chief of Total Retail. She is an industry veteran, having covered all aspects of retail, tech, digital, e-commerce, and marketing over the past 20 years. Melissa is also the co-founder of the Women in Retail Leadership Circle.

CVS Caremark announced Wednesday that it will stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products at its CVS/pharmacy stores by Oct. 1 of this year. The retailer said the move makes CVS/pharmacy the first chain of national pharmacies to take tobacco products off the shelves. "Ending the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products at CVS/pharmacy is the right thing for us to do for our customers and our company to help people on their path to better health," Larry J. Merlo, president and CEO of CVS Caremark, said in a statement. 

CVS has announced that Larry J. Merlo has assumed the role of chief executive officer. Merlo, now president and CEO of CVS Caremark, succeeds Thomas M. Ryan who will remain non-executive chairman until his retirement at the company's annual meeting in May.

More Blogs