The highly-anticipated move by CVS Caremark to halt tobacco sales in all of its stores goes into effect today, as the company also seeks to revitalize its health-oriented image by changing its corporate moniker to CVS Health.

CVS announced in February that it planned to stop selling tobacco products by Oct. 1, because as the sales conflicted with its mission, to promote health, said a report in USA Today.

With 7,700 retail locations, CVS, the second-largest drugstore chain in the United States after Walgreens, manages pharmacy benefits for 65 million members and has 900 walk-in medical clinics.

Back in March 2010, the American Pharmacists Association asked drugstores to stop selling tobacco -- and even though several small, independent chains have abided by the association's request, CVS is so far the only large store chain to answer the anti-tobacco call, APA spokeswoman Michelle Spinnler said.

"CVS' announcement to stop selling tobacco products fully a month early sends a resounding message to the entire retail industry and to its customers that pharmacies should not be in the business of selling tobacco," Matthew Myers, president of the Washington-based Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, told USA Today. "This is truly an example of a corporation leading and setting a new standard."

CVS has announced it's also establishing a smoking cessation effort that will include an assessment of a smoker's "readiness to quit," education, medication support -- to help reduce the desire to use tobacco -- and personal coaching, to help those trying to quit to stay motivated and avoid relapses.

CVS says it's collected research that shows its rejection of tobacco culture will have a big impact on the market. Research the company is releasing today in the journal Health Affairs suggests that tobacco product bans at pharmacies in Boston and San Francisco led to more than 13 percent fewer purchasers.

Some smokers, the data show, didn't simply switch where they bought cigarettes and other tobacco products, but chose to stop buying them altogether.

The study was based on 900 households in the two cities, where consumers recorded everything they bought after the bans went into effect.

CVS says its tobacco sales have totaled about $2 billion a year.

After its announcement in February, CVS was reportedly flooded with personal stories from customers who had quit smoking, many indicating it was the "hardest thing they had ever done," said CVS/Pharmacy President Helene Foulkes.

CVS Health is now determined to make it easier for its customers to quit smoking, Foulkes says, because it simply makes sense.