Hundreds of smoke shops in Cleveland remain noncompliant with city law a year after Cleveland passed legislation requiring tobacco retailers to obtain a license to operate.
Public Health Director David Margolius said the city sent violation notifications last week to about 250 retailers that have not yet acquired the permit mandated by the new law. The city estimates 500 retailers currently operate in Cleveland, meaning half are in violation.
The number of smoke shops had nearly doubled between 2022 and 2025, according to the Prevention Research Center for Healthy Neighborhoods at Case Western Reserve University. Margolius said the law intends to keep up with that growing number.
He also hopes to encourage further decline of the city's smoking rate, which is among the highest in the country. Though the amount of smoking Clevelanders dropped from a staggering 35% to 19% in the last decade, the city's rate is still well above the national average of 11%.
"The most important thing here is helping Cleveland residents breathe free and live longer lives and live healthier lives," Margolius said.
The legislative package also included ordinances that prohibit new smoke shops from opening within two miles of an existing store, limit advertising to 25% coverage of exterior windows and ban the sale of marijuana within those shops.
Retailers are subject to two inspections a year, some of which may be "secret shopper" buys, in which customers under 21 attempt to illegally purchase tobacco. Last year, the city received a grant from the Ohio Department of Health to launch those inspections and found that 50% of the 92 retailers tested sold to those underage buyers.
And a decade later, the city can finally enforce penalties for underage sales. In 2016, three years before the state enacted Tobacco 21, the city restricted sales to residents under 21 years of age. But there were no mechanisms in place to enforce that law.
"At that time, the tobacco retail license portion of the legislation was shelved," Margolius said. "So, the health department had no authority to enforce Tobacco 21; it was just on the books. Now, 10 years later, we finally have the opportunity to have this enforcement part of the law, and it's going to make a huge difference."
Those who do not comply with city law are subject to escalating penalties, beginning with a $500 fine, then a $750 fine and a week suspension, and ultimately, license removal and closure.
