The largest grocery store chain in Massachusetts will stop selling tobacco products in all its stores this week.

Stop & Shop, which has 125 stores in Massachusetts, called its decision “part of the brand’s commitment to community wellness.”

On Wednesday, the shopping giant held a cigarette buyback event in the city where customers could bring in an unopened pack or carton of cigarettes to trade in for a Stop & Shop gift card, a bag of snacks, mints, smoking cessation products, and coupons for nicotine gum.

“Our responsibility as a grocer goes far beyond our aisles, and we are committed to taking bold steps to help our associates, customers, and communities work towards better health outcomes,” said Gordon Reid, president of Stop & Shop.

CVS halted its cigarette sales nationwide in 2014, the first national pharmacy chain to ban the products from all of its stores. The move drew praise from state and federal government officials, including then-President Barack Obama.

Stop & Shop will end tobacco sales on Saturday.

Reid’s statement also pointed to the store’s pharmacists and registered dietitians as ways they aim to “support the health and well-being of the neighborhoods we serve.”

After years of decline in adult cigarette smoking rates, there was a slight uptick in smoking adults between 2021 and 2022, according to the most recent annual State of Tobacco Control report from American Lung Association, from 11.5% to 11.6%. Meanwhile, overall adult tobacco use is increasing more rapidly, driven by a rise in adult e-cigarette use from 4.5 to 6 percent.

“The increases in e-cigarette use over the past two years have been driven by the 18- to 24-year-old age group and 65.5% of e-cigarette users in this age group did not smoke cigarettes previously in 2022,” the report says.