Eagan, MN Business Licensing & Operations: Tobacco Retail License (2026)

Section 6.34 folds vapes and e-cigarettes into Eagan's tobacco licensing scheme by defining an 'electronic delivery device' as any product that delivers nicotine or lobelia by simulated smoking, and Subd. 21 applies every license, sale, and enforcement provision governing tobacco equally to those devices and to nicotine or lobelia delivery products. A retailer needs a separate license for each fixed place of business, and the city clerk forwards every application to the police department for a background check before approving or denying it; no license issues to a moveable business or delivery vehicle.

Under Subd. 14, a licensee cannot sell to anyone under 21, cannot sell through a vending machine, and cannot display these products in an open, self-service case reachable by customers without a clerk's help unless the store qualifies for a narrow self-service exemption. Licensed retailers must also bar smoking anywhere on the premises, regardless of any exemption a tobacco shop might otherwise have under the state Clean Indoor Air Act. To police compliance, Subd. 17 requires the city to run unannounced sting operations using underage buyers at least twice every calendar year, and every licensee must run an ongoing employee training program on the age and ID rules.

A licensee caught violating the section faces an escalating administrative fine schedule under Subd. 19.H: $75.00 for a first violation, $200.00 for a second violation at the same store within 24 months, and $250.00 for a third, with the license itself suspended for seven days on that third violation; the city council decides the penalty for a fourth violation at the same location.