PELHAM, N.Y. (AP)  -- A group of suburban grocery stores has decided to stop selling cigarettes, becoming at least the second chain in New York to give up profits from tobacco.

John DeCicco Jr., vice president for operations of DeCicco Markets, said Friday its stores in Pelham, Bronxville, Scarsdale, New City and Jefferson Valley are selling off their inventory and should be tobacco-free by April.

The chain's newest store, which opened last year in Ardsley, has never sold cigarettes, DeCicco said, ``and it's been a big success.''

``We want to try to promote better health as much as possible,'' he said. ``It's a moral decision as well in that we don't want to promote underage smoking.''

He said the family-owned chain would lose several thousand dollars a week in profit.

Bill Phelps, a spokesman for Phillip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker, refused comment.

Rochester-based Wegmans Food Markets Inc., a much larger chain with 71 stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland, announced last month it will stop selling tobacco products next week.

``We have come to this decision after thinking about the role smoking plays in people's health,'' the company said. ``We certainly respect a person's right to smoke, but we believe there are few of us who would introduce our children to smoking.''

Both chains are family-owned.

Russell Sciandra, tobacco policy specialist for the American Cancer Society, said not having to answer to shareholders makes ethical decisions a little easier.

``We're hoping this is a trend that the publicly owned chains may have to follow,'' he said.

He said that if fewer stores sell cigarettes, the inconvenience of finding them may prompt some smokers to quit.

Tobacco and related accessories, such as lighters, accounted for $5.4 billion in supermarket sales nationally in 2006, according to Progressive Grocer magazine.

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