1. Vermont Store Assessment Data Highlights & How-To
Recording:
Vermont Store Assessment Data Highlights & How-To
Mollie Mayfield, MPH
April 30, 2018

2. Webinar Housekeeping: Zoom Webinar Orientation
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3. Webinar Housekeeping: Zoom Webinar Orientation
Either way works – Jackie will be helping to moderate questions throughout the webinar

4. Ask questions throughout!
Webinar Agenda
Data highlights
State level tobacco
Local level tobacco (with live demo in POST)
State level alcohol
Local level alcohol
Excel data analysis basic (live demo – optional)
Ask questions throughout!

5. Assessment Summary 2017-2018 Data Collection 2014 Data Collection
1202 retailers in Vermont
1159 stores visited
997 assessments performed
859 sell tobacco
1094 sell alcohol
811 sold tobacco
917 sold alcohol
952 tobacco retailers
(93% also sold alcohol)
885 stores visited
767 assessments performed

6. Store Types Assessed 94% of tobacco retailers also sold alcohol
83% of alcohol retailers also sold tobacco
Convenience store = largest category (frequented by youth)
A tobacco retail license is free with the purchase of an alcohol retail license.

7. Percent of retailers assessed with each type of advertising
Exterior Advertising
Percent of retailers assessed with each type of advertising
Exterior ads mean even youth or adults who don’t go in the store but just pass by it get exposed to the tobacco or alcohol advertising.
*not mutually exclusive*

8. Tobacco Data

9. Tobacco Retailer Density
When there are more tobacco retailers in a given area,
Youth are more likely to start smoking
It is more difficult for current smokers to quit
Current smokers consume more cigarettes per day
Often, tobacco retailers cluster in areas with a large percentage of low-income residents or residents or color
Density
A measure of the concentration or clustering of tobacco retailers in an area;
Measured as number per 1,000 population, e.g., 1.2 retailers per 1,000 people

10. Tobacco Retailer Density in VT
Health District
Tobacco Retailer Density
Barre
1.3
Bennington
1.5
Brattleboro
1.4
Burlington
1.1
Middlebury
Morrisville
1.7
Newport
2.1
Rutland
1.9
Springfield
St. Albans
1.6
St. Johnsbury
White River Junction

11. Tobacco Retailer Density in VT
Median Household Income
Disparities in Density:
Greater retailer density in lower income areas, Lower retailer density in higher income areas

12. Higher density associated with higher school smoking prevalence
Research has also determined links between retailer density in the area around a school and smoking prevalence in the school. We see that when there is a higher density of retailers within walking distance, the school has significantly higher smoking rates.
Perfect example of that Proximity X Density DOUBLE WHAMMY – high retailer DENSITY in close PROXIMITY to schools leads to higher smoking rates
Photo credit:
California, 2008: Schools with higher numbers of tobacco retailers within walking distance have higher school smoking prevalence2
1. Henriksen, et al., 2008, Preventive Medicine;

13. Tobacco Retailer Proximity to Schools
County
Tobacco Retailers Near Schools
Addison
22%
Bennington
23%
Caledonia 9%
Chittenden
13%
Essex 0%
Franklin 5%
Grand Isle
Lamoille
Orange
24%
Orleans
16%
Rutland
12%
Washington
15%
Windham
Windsor
11%
State average = 13% of retailers are within 1000’ of a school

14. Schools Near Retailers
Health District
Schools Near Retailers
Barre
25%
Bennington
41%
Brattleboro
22%
Burlington
Middlebury
37%
Morrisville
17%
Newport
Rutland
36%
Springfield
27%
St. Albans
St. Johnsbury 7%
White River Junction
33%
Statewide
29% of schools are within 1000’ of a retailer
Another way of looking at it…
Proportion of schools that are near retailers

15. Tobacco Enforcement: Last Year
Health District
Violation Rate
Barre 6%
Bennington 0%
Brattleboro 5%
Burlington 3%
Middlebury
13%
Morrisville 7%
Newport
15%
Rutland
Springfield
12%
St. Albans
St. Johnsbury
White River Junction 4%
Also important for monitoring youth access to tobacco – not just how close they are to it, but actually underage buying attempts.
You can see the percentage of retailers with either an FDA or a Synar violation here by health district over the past year….
Highest in Newport at 15%
Lowest in Bennington at 0%
In POST when you hover over each dot, you can also see how many retailers were inspections and how many failed, and what the inspection coverage rate was for time period.

16. Tobacco Enforcement: Last 5 Years
Health District
Violation Rate
Barre
12%
Bennington 8%
Brattleboro 7%
Burlington
11%
Middlebury 9%
Morrisville
15%
Newport
Rutland
Springfield 4%
St. Albans
St. Johnsbury
10%
White River Junction
…and over the past 5 years
Highest in Morrisville at 15% failure rate
Lowest = 4% in Springfield

17. Tobacco Store Types Assessed
Again, convenience stores = most tobacco retailers (also where youth frequent)
All other store types = <1%

18. Product Availability
Percent of retailers carrying each product type

19. Product Availability Comparison to 2014
More retailers selling cigarillos/little cigars/blunt, but fewer selling everything else
E-cigarettes – In 2016, Vermont established a new, separate license that retailers must acquire to sell tobacco substitutes like e-cigarettes (DLC). This extra hoop could have also contributed to the decrease in the number of retailers that sell e-cigarettes between 2014 to 2017.

20. Flavored Tobacco Product Availability
Percent of tobacco retailers selling flavored tobacco products by product type

21. Flavored Tobacco Product Availability Comparison to 2014
Percent of tobacco retailers selling flavored tobacco products by product type
Decrease by product, but about the same # selling any flavored tobacco product

22. Exterior Advertising
Percentage of tobacco retailers with exterior tobacco ads
In ,
7% of retailers had exterior ads for flavored tobacco products

23. Interior Advertising & Product Placement Youth Appeal
Percentage of tobacco retailers with youth appealing tobacco ad or product placement
Ads under 3ft = at kids’ eye level
Youth Products = candy, toys, ice cream, slushy machines, etc.

24. Product Placement
Most VT tobacco retailers are in compliance with VT’s ban on self-service tobacco product displays
*note: self-service displays are still allowed in adult-only retailers (so these retailers could still be in compliance)

25. 71% sold single cigarillos
Product Pricing
Blu = lower price than in 2014
Newport = higher price than in 2014
We know that price = one of the largest factors on tobacco use rates. The general consensus is that nationally, every 10 percent increase in the real price of cigarettes reduces adult smoking by about two percent, reduces smoking among young adults by about 3.5 percent, reduces the number of kids who smoke by six or seven percent, and reduces overall cigarette consumption by approximately three to five percent.
N/A*
N/A**
71% sold single cigarillos
48% sold them for <$1
* = Not collected in ** = Not collected in 2014

26. Percentage of tobacco retailers with price promotions, by product
VT’s cigarette excise tax = $3.08 per pack, which is the 6th highest in the nation, and that is equalized for other products.
However, the tobacco industry can circumvent excise tax increases with price discounts and coupons. Price discounts are the single largest category of tobacco industry marketing expenditures – and here you can see how that plays out in VT.
VT excise tax on cigarettes:
$3.08
6th highest in US

27. Local Tobacco Data
I won’t spend as much time on this because a lot of county-level and health-district-level data is available through infographics and SnapShot maps in POST, but I’ll go through a couple of data points to remind you where you can find that information, and then I’ll demonstrate how to find data on your local city/town/village level data in POST.

28. Avg. Cheapest Price of Cigarettes
County
Avg. Cheapest Pack
Lamoille
$7.97
Caledonia
$7.71
Grand Isle
$7.64
Windham
Bennington
$7.59
Washington
$7.58
Orange
$7.53
Chittenden
$7.52
Windsor
$7.49
Addison
$7.39
Orleans
$7.21
Essex
$7.20
Franklin
Rutland
$7.05
Red county in graph = Addison County (you can find this on the POS Landscape Infographic in POST)
Counties listed from highest to lowest price

29. Newport Menthol Prices
County
Avg. Cheapest Pack
Lamoille
$10.16
Grand Isle
$10.03
Caledonia
$9.45
Essex
$9.39
Orange
$9.31
Franklin
$9.30
Washington
$9.25
Chittenden
$9.21
Addison
$9.16
Windham
$9.15
Rutland
$9.14
Bennington
$9.13
Windsor
Orleans
$8.97
Red = Addison County

30. POST Data Interpretation
Snapshot Maps and Queries includes only "sells tobacco= true”
Reports and Infographics include "sells tobacco= true" and "sells tobacco=null"
All retailers with assessment data have now been updated for their tobacco selling status.
We are working on harmonizing these ways of looking at the data in POST so that they count retailers the same way, but for now just know that this is how you should interpret each.
Snapshot Maps and Queries are based only on the number of retailers that are listed as selling tobacco on their retailer detail page. If they have ’”no” or “unknown” they will not be included in these numbers.
Reports and Infographics include both retailers that are listed as selling tobacco AND retailers for which their status for selling tobacco is “unknown.”

31. Live Demo! How to find your local assessment data in POST (by city, town, village, county, or health district)
Refresher of what you can access in POST – county data in infographics, health district data in Snapshot maps, any level data in Queries or Reports
Demo how to find:
How many retailers sold single cigarillos in your city/town/village (compared to the number of retailers assessed/retailer selling any tobacco)
Flavored e-cigarettes for sale
Stores Near Schools per city/town/village
How to compare to 2014
Any requests for data points?

32. Alcohol Data

33. Alcohol Store Types Assessed

34. Alcohol Retailer Density
Alcohol Retailer Density = Risk factor for excessive drinking & other social harms
1.50
2.07
1.30
2.30
2.51
1.60
1.62
1.98
1.28
1.70
1.97
2.00
1.23
1.95
County
Alcohol retailer density
(per 1,000 people)
Lamoille
2.51
Grand Isle
2.30
Orleans
2.07
Windham
2.00
Rutland
1.98
Bennington
1.97
Washington
1.95
Windsor
1.70
Caledonia
1.62
Addison
1.60
Franklin
1.50
Essex
1.30
Orange
1.28
Chittenden
1.23
State Avg.
1.67

35. Alcohol Retailers Near Schools
County
% of alcohol retailers
within 1,000 ft of a school
Orange
24.3%
Bennington
22.2%
Addison
20.3%
Lamoille
14.3%
Chittenden
14.2%
Rutland
13.4%
Windsor
12.6%
Washington
12.2%
Caledonia
12.0%
Windham
10.3%
Orleans
8.9%
Franklin
8.2%
Essex
0.0%
Grand Isle
Statewide, 14% of all VT alcohol retailers are within 1000ft of a school

36. Exterior Advertising
Percent of alcohol retailers with exterior advertisements for alcohol

37. Products sold at alcohol retailers by type
Product Availability
Products sold at alcohol retailers by type

38. Types of Alcopops Sold
Of retailers who sold alcopops:

39. Alcohol Pricing 4% of alcohol retailers offered a free item
with the purchase of an alcoholic beverage

40. Product Placement
Placement of alcoholic beverages with alcohol retailers: percentage of retailers assessed with each type of placement

41. Interior Advertisement Placement
Placement of alcohol ads: percentage of retailers assessed with each type of ad

42. Alcohol Data by County

43. Exterior Advertising
Percent of retailers with exterior alcohol ads, by county

44. Alcohol Promotions
Percent of retailers offering a free items with purchase of an alcoholic beverage

45. Product Availability: Alcopops
Percent of alcohol retailers selling flavored malt beverages or “alcopops”

46. Product Availability: Single Serving Alcohol
Percent of alcohol retailers offering alcohol in single serving containers

47. Type of Alcopops Sold

48. Supersize Alcopop Availability
Percent of retailers selling alcopops that sell them in supersize, by county

49. State Level Infographics + County Level Data

50. County Level Data Output
And for the city/town/village level data, I will now show you how to obtain that using the excel data set

51. Questions?
Next I’m going to dive into a live demo of how to do basic analyses on your data in excel, but I wanted to pause first to answer any questions that have come up in relation to the data that I have presented so far. For any of you are not sticking around for the demo, a few notes

52. Notes and Reminders
Please keep an eye out for an evaluation survey from Counter Tools coming to your inbox along with the slides from this webinar.
Retailers selling tobacco in POST are fully updated
Final office hours = May 15th, 11am ET
Resources:
For software-related questions
For anything else:

53. Live demo! How to do your own analyses in excel
Looking for more excel how-to? Here’s a great resource:

54. mollie@countertools.org help@countertools.org
Thank you! Questions?