James City County, VA Business Licensing & Operations: Tobacco Retail License (2026)

James City County defines "vape/smoke shop" under section 24-2 broadly: a retail establishment selling cigars, tobacco or tobacco products such as pipe tobacco, roll-your-own supplies, herbal and wax vaporizers, hookah and water pipes, cannabis or hemp products including CBD, and e-cigarettes and related equipment like batteries, coils and e-liquids. The definition specifically excludes drug stores, grocery stores, retail food stores and convenience stores whose primary business is something other than those products, even if they also sell some of the listed items. In the General Business District, B-1, the use list at section 24-390 places "Vape/smoke shop and vape/smoke lounge" only in the Specially Permitted Uses column, meaning it needs a special use permit from the Board of Supervisors rather than qualifying as a permitted use like most other B-1 retail categories, and the section cross-references section 24-11's SUP procedures for certain commercial uses.

The same special-use-permit treatment recurs in the county's other business, industrial and mixed-use district use lists, including the Mixed Use, MU district and the Economic Opportunity district use tables, so a vape or smoke shop cannot open as of right anywhere in unincorporated James City County; it must clear the SUP process, including the community impact statement and public hearing requirements of section 24-23, in every district where the use is listed.