A measure to ban vaping and other electronic cigarette devices — which the Redwood City Council takes up Monday in a study session — will shut his store down, says a man who moved to the city after San Mateo County’s ban on vaping.
“It’s going to put us straight out of business,” said Hani Tannous.
Tannous owns Redwood City Vape and three other stores in the region.
He moved to a new location about a mile away in Redwood City from an El Camino Real site outside the city after the county’s vaping ban in 2019.
Tannous said vaping is 95 percent safer than traditional cigarettes and it is a good way to get people off traditional tobacco.
Redwood City, home to 12 tobacco and vaping business, three hookah lounges and one smoking lounge, may join the county and six cities in banning the sale of flavored
tobacco products and electronic cigarette devices.
The study session Monday of the City Council will provide direction on a proposed ordinance.
If a flavored tobacco ban goes into effect, tobacco retailers that continue to sell flavored tobacco products place themselves at risk of receiving a fine and having their tobacco retailer license suspended, a city staff report said.
The Redwood City Code Enforcement Division and Environmental Health Department of San Mateo County are expected to work together to administer complaint-driven enforcement, a city staff report said.
County supervisors on Dec. 12 expanded a previous ban to include e-cigarettes and other vaping devices, a city staff report said.
Burlingame, Half Moon Bay, Menlo Park, Portola Valley, San Carlos and South San Francisco have also adopted a flavored tobacco and e-cigarette ban ordinance, the report said.
If Redwood City bans the products the economic development team for the municipality would contact the 16 tobacco and vaping businesses and mail a letter to liquor stores, convenience stores and gas stations selling tobacco.
Tannous said his vaping stores enforce a requirement that only people 21 and older use vaping products — and asked why liquor companies are able to sell fruit-flavored products.
Safeway sells such items as cotton-candy flavored vodka, he said.
The Redwood City Council meets 7 p.m. Monday, March 9, at City Hall, 1017 Middlefield Road.
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