The role of the local retail environment in the tobacco-purchasing behaviour of underage adolescents in Amsterdam

Objective: Despite a nationwide ban on tobacco sales to people under 18 years of age, adolescents can still buy tobacco products in Amsterdam. This study aimed to understand the influence of the retail environment in adolescents’ activity spaces on their tobacco-purchasing behaviour. Method: Interviews were conducted with 13 adolescents (aged 14–19 years) who went to school in Amsterdam and had ever bought tobacco products. Questions were based on the capability, opportunity, motivation, behaviour (COM-B) model. City maps showing all tobacco outlets were used to visualise respondents’ activity spaces and purchasing areas. Transcripts were analysed thematically. Results: Adolescents preferred purchasing tobacco at shops where they had successfully purchased it before, instead of going to just any shop close by. They purchased tobacco products mostly in small shops. Supermarkets were avoided, as employees complied with age-verification procedures. The city centre provided easy access because the density of small shops was high. In adolescents’ residential area, acquaintances behind the counter might facilitate tobacco purchase, while it was a barrier for minors who secretly smoked. At school, adolescents developed a collective knowledge of shops that sold tobacco products to minors either near school or further away. Tobacco was also bought on the black market because it was cheaper or because it was possible to buy specific products (e.g. snus). Conclusion: Tobacco purchasing by minors is less about the proximity and more about which stores in their activity spaces sell tobacco products to minors. Policies should therefore be aimed at the enforcement of age limits and reducing the number of small shops selling tobacco.