Flowood prepares to go smoke-free in work places

Flowood is about to join the list of about three dozen Mississippi cities that are smoke-free in public places.

Starting May 4, the Jackson suburb will ban smoking in all businesses and work places. Smoking will also be prohibited within 20 feet of business entrances in Flowood.

The Clarion-Ledger reports that Flowood aldermen adopted the no-smoking ordinance April 4, and it takes effect May 4.

Roy Hart, director of the state Department of Health’s Office of Tobacco Control, says the smoke-free air policy will protect employees and customers. He says there is no safe level of secondhand smoke.

A statewide anti-smoking bill died in the state Legislature during the recent session.

Discount tobacco chain chooses downtown Erwin

Location. In the world of business, it can make or break you.
Allen and Carolyn Hampton considered Bristol, Kingsport and Greeneville before finally settling on Erwin for the latest location in their growing chain of discount tobacco stores.

Judging by Tri-City Wholesale Tobacco’s initial success in Erwin, the Hamptons apparently made the right decision.

“We feel like we have already met and gone above our goals in opening up the store here,” Allen said. “We’re two or three months ahead of where we needed to be in terms of success.”

Finding the right location in Erwin, though, proved difficult. Allen said he considered several properties before choosing the former Crystal Cleaners building at 224 N. Main Ave.

“We chose this location because we felt we could benefit from being more toward downtown,” he said. “We really felt it would be better for us, but it took us about four months to find the right place.

“We felt like the retail here would support more competition here and that a discount store was needed.”

The Hamptons also operate three other discount tobacco stores in the area — in Johnson City and Jonesborough.

The store offers a variety of traditional convenience store items — ice cream, chips, colas, beer and newspapers, for example — but, as its name implies, the main focus of the business is the sale of tobacco products at discounted prices. In fact, he said the sale of cigarettes accounts for 90 percent of his overall sales.

“We run the lowest price the state will allow,” Allen said, noting that the sale of cigarettes falls under fair trade laws and must be monitored on a daily basis.

While Allen has been working at the Erwin store since it opened in May, eventually Carolyn will take over the day-to-day management of the store.

But, for now, Allen said he’s enjoyed a return, of sorts, to Erwin.

Years ago, he was a supervisor for Pic-Qik and Publix stores, both of which had Erwin locations many years ago but have long since closed.

“I was here in Erwin for my job back then,” Allen said, “and I always enjoyed Erwin. It’s a good town, and it’s changed a lot. There’s a Walgreens up on the corner, and there seems to be more selection and businesses here. We’re happy to be one of them.”

Malawi Opens Tobacco Season; Farmers Complain of Low Prices

Malawi, the world’s biggest producer of burley tobacco, opened the 2011 season yesterday with President Bingu wa Mutharika asking malawibuyers to offer better prices.

“This year we have very good rains and with good care of the crop, we are sure of getting more revenue,” Mutharika said on MBC Radio during a live broadcast of the opening ceremony in the capital, Lilongwe. “The buyers should realize that farmers can only continue growing tobacco if they are paid prices beyond the cost of production,” said Mutharika.

Tobacco earnings fell 5 percent to $410.6 million in the year through Nov. 19 because of a drop in sales, the Bank of Malawi said Dec. 8. Prices averaged $1.90 per kilogram(2.2 pounds), higher than the $1.88 received in 2009, with prices declining in the second half of the season because of delayed confirmation from the buying companies’ customers and increased production in Zimbabwe.

Minimum prices for burley have been set at $1.80 per kilogram, down from $2 a kilogram set last year, Daily Times reported yesterday, citing Tobacco Control Commission Chief Executive Officer Bruce Munthali. The price reduction follows a drop in demand for the leaves by buyers, Munthali told the Blantyre-based newspaper. Malawi began setting minimum prices for the various grades of tobacco in 2007, after accusing merchants of putting growers out of business by offering them lower prices.

Tobacco is Malawi’s biggest foreign-exchange earner, accounting for 60 percent of all revenue earned from abroad.