Mary Szarmach, the chairperson of NATO's Membership Committee, said that "7-Eleven's membership in NATO demonstrates the importance of the tobacco category to the convenience store industry and reflects an ongoing need for convenience stores to stay abreast of tobacco legislative issues around the country."
She added, "7-Eleven is the latest responsible retailer to join NATO to work with the association on state and federal tobacco legislation."
As one [image-nocss] of the leading national retail trade associations that focuses exclusively on state and federal tobacco legislative issues, NATO's membership is expanding to include tobacco stores, convenience stores, grocery stores, liquor stores and gas stations because the sale of tobacco products is critical to all of these different kinds of retailers, the group said.
NATO is an association organized to enhance the common business interests of tobacco outlets, to support the legislative interests of association members and to encourage the expansion of the tobacco outlet marketplace segment of the tobacco industry in a responsible and law-abiding manner.To accomplish these objectives, NATO will: Take a pro-active position that informs and educates elected officials on the local, state and/or national levels about the impact that proposed legislation would have on the tobacco outlet market segment and the individual rights and the freedom of choice of the adult customers served by tobacco outlets. Provide a forum for educating NATO members about the issues affecting the tobacco outlet industry. Provide a forum for retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers to discuss issues and opportunities.
Minneapolis-based NATO celebrates its ninth anniversary this month.
Based in Dallas, 7-Eleven operates, franchises and licenses more than 6,970 c-stores in the United States and Canada.
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