Everett, MA Business Licensing & Operations: Tobacco Retail License (2026)

The ban sits in Section 33 of the Everett Zoning Ordinance, which creates the Commercial Triangle Economic Development District, called the CTEDD in the text. Section 33(D) describes the district as approximately ninety-seven (97) acres, roughly bounded by Revere Beach Parkway to the north, the City of Chelsea to the east, the MBTA line to the south and Revere Street to the west, as shown on a plan dated June 7, 2018 that is on file with the city clerk.

Inside that boundary the use regulations in Section 33(E) work by lists. One list covers uses allowed by right, such as business office, bank and financial services up to fifteen thousand (15,000) square feet of gross floor area per lot. A second covers uses allowed by special permit from the planning board, such as a hotel or a restaurant. The third list is headed Prohibited Uses and Exempt from Use Variances, and it opens with a flat rule: uses not specifically allowed are prohibited, and no variance can be issued to allow such use. Item j on that non-exclusive list is a smoke shop, hookah bar, cigar bar and/or vape shop. The same list also bars adult entertainment, self-storage, a gun shop, a tattoo or piercing parlor, a pawnbroker and a check cashing/payday lending facility.

Existing operations get a carve-out. Section 33(B)(2) says that, pursuant to M.G.L. c. 40A, § 6, the provisions of the CTEDD do not apply to any existing buildings or structures, nor to the existing use of any building, structure or premises. Alterations to uses, structures or dimensional requirements on lots within the CTEDD are governed by Section 33.

The tobacco fee is a separate track. Section 12-43 sets the Board of Health license fee schedule: the licenses it covers date from and expire on the first day of May of each year, the fee cannot exceed the limit set by the Division of Standards, and entry (o) on the schedule is Tobacco at fifty dollars ($50.00). It sits beside Massage Therapist, Tanning and Mobile Vendor. This page covers only the CTEDD prohibition and that fee line. Other zoning districts in Everett have their own sections, which are not quoted here.