Dane County, WI Business Licensing & Operations: Tobacco Retail License (2026)
Key Facts
- Qualifying threshold
- 75%+ revenue from device sales
- Liquor license bar
- no Class A/B liquor license allowed
- Entrance rule
- must open directly outside
- Food rule
- no food service permitted
- Tobacco rule
- combustible smoking still banned inside
Summary
Dane County's smoking ordinance defines a 'retail electronic delivery device store' as a shop deriving 75% or more of its gross income from selling e-cigarettes and accessories, and § 34.07(8)(d) exempts such stores from the indoor smoking ban only if they allow in-store device sampling, keep an outside entrance, ban tobacco smoking, and serve no food.
(vm) Retail electronic delivery device store means a retail establishment that does not have a "Class B" or "Class A" intoxicating liquor license or a "Class B" or "Class A" fermented malt beverages license and that generates seventy-five percent (75%) or more of its gross annual income from the retail sale of electronic delivery devices and accessories. ... (8) Exceptions. ... (d) Retail electronic delivery device stores subject to the following: 1. The store may provide electronic delivery devices and accessories for the purposes of sampling; 2. The store must have an entrance opening directly to the outside; 3. Smoking of tobacco products is prohibited; and 4. Service of food is not permitted.
Full Breakdown
07(4) and (6), but sub. (8)(d) carves out a narrow exception for dedicated vape retailers. To qualify as a 'retail electronic delivery device store' under the definition in sub. (3)(vm), a business must lack a Class A or Class B liquor or fermented-malt-beverage license and generate 75% or more of its annual gross income from selling electronic delivery devices, e-cigarettes, e-cigars, e-pipes, e-hookahs, vape pens, and their accessories. A qualifying store may then let customers sample devices on-site despite the general indoor vaping ban, but only if it meets three further conditions: the store must have an entrance opening directly to the outside, smoking of combustible tobacco products must remain prohibited on the premises, and the store cannot serve food.
The exemption does not touch state or federal age-verification, licensing, or excise-tax requirements for selling nicotine products, it only addresses whether customers may vape inside the store itself, which the county's general place-of-employment and public-place smoking bans would otherwise forbid.
Violations & Fines
A vape shop that lets customers sample devices without meeting all three conditions in § 34.07(8)(d), an outside entrance, a ban on combustible tobacco smoking, and no food service, loses the exemption and is treated as smoking in a prohibited place under sub. (4)/(6), exposing the store's owner or manager to the escalating $100/$200/$500 forfeiture schedule in sub. (12)(b).
Frequently Asked Questions
Can customers vape inside a Dane County vape shop?
Does the vape-shop exemption cover combustible cigars or cigarettes too?
Does a vape shop need a separate county license to operate?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Dane County
Compare Dane County to another location·View the Wisconsin business licensing & operations overview
See something wrong?
Help us keep this page accurate. If you notice an error or outdated information, let us know.