So far it has been pain without gain but Taryn and Joe Taurima have stuck to their guns and stopped selling tobacco products at their GAS Service Station Omapere.
They've been congratulated and abused by regular and casual customers alike, and are coming to terms with the impact of going smokefree on their casual sales turnover.
"People are coming in all the time for smokes and we say, 'sorry, we don't sell them'," Mr Taurima said.
"Some people complain but just as often even the smokers say 'good on you, bro'."
"I'm very glad to be encouraging our community to be healthier with their choices and to show our kids especially that there are other choices," Mrs Taurima said.
"Our four children are the biggest motivating factor behind our decision to no longer sell tobacco products and they think we are really cool because of it."
Not carrying tobacco has freed up cashflow to stock up on other products over the holiday period, when custom quadruples.
"We have been able to buy more items, increase our quantities and add greater variety and choice to our stock levels, which have much better margins than tobacco," Mrs Taurima said.
But putting their money where their mouth is has also seen the couple lose hundreds of sales and cut down casual traffic through the door.
"I open up at 6am and there were always at least 20 people who came in then for smokes and a drink and food, it's not just tobacco people bought," Mr Taurima said.
"We'd thought about it for a long time. It's painful but it had to be done."
Staff have also felt the impact, with no smoking allowed anywhere on the premises - including by the only family member who is a smoker, Mrs Taurima's father who is also the mechanic.
The Taurimas have extended the ban to their adjoining Omaparadise Cafe, where the outdoor dining area is smokefree too.
In Northland there are now 23 tobacco-free retailers, of only 51 nationwide.
Northland District Health Board Smokefree Adviser Bridget Rowse said it was a brave move in the Omapere Hokianga area, an area with one of the country's highest smoking rates: 34 per cent of adults compared to 19.1 per cent in Northland, and 15 per cent nationally.
"It really encouraging to see people actively trying to get tobacco out of their community," Ms Rowse said.
The Taurima's business has been presented with a Tobacco-free Retailer Award by Northland District Health Board and Cancer Society Northland.