Johns Creek, GA Business Licensing & Operations: Tobacco Retail License (2026)
Key Facts
- Shopping-center rule
- Must be within a retail shopping center
- Distance from protected uses
- 200 yards minimum
- Distance from other smoke shops
- 500 yards minimum
- Covered products
- Cigarettes, cigars, e-cigarettes, hookahs, vapes
- Citation
- App. A (Zoning) § 3.3.19.S
Summary
Johns Creek's zoning code defines smoke shops covering cigarettes, cigars, e-cigarettes, hookahs and vapes, and confines them to retail shopping centers at least 200 yards from churches, schools, daycares and government buildings, and 500 yards from another smoke shop.
Smoke Shop. Any business establishment dedicated to the display, sale, distribution, delivery, offering, furnishing, marketing or use of tobacco, tobacco products, or alternative nicotine products/instruments... Such businesses shall be located within a retail shopping center and shall not be allowed within 200 yards of any Church, Temple or Place of Worship, Daycare, School, College, University or Government-owned Facilities or Properties, or within 500 yards of another Smoke Shop.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 23 Update 1).
Full Breakdown
The Johns Creek Zoning Ordinance defines a Smoke Shop as any business dedicated to selling tobacco, tobacco products or alternative nicotine products/instruments, including cigarettes, cigars, e-cigarettes, hookahs and vapes -- but excludes cigar shops and grocery/gas-station sellers whose tobacco sales are 10 percent or less of total sales. A qualifying shop must operate inside a retail shopping center. It cannot open within 200 yards of a church, temple, daycare, school, college, university or government facility, or within 500 yards of another smoke shop. Distance is measured in a straight line from the shop's front door to the nearest boundary of the protected use, ignoring intervening buildings.
Violations & Fines
Opening or operating a Smoke Shop that violates the shopping-center or 200-yard/500-yard buffer requirements is a zoning violation; the Department of Community Development can deny or revoke the business's occupational license.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a smoke shop open next to a school in Johns Creek?
Does the smoke shop rule cover vape stores?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Johns Creek
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Tobacco Retail License in Nearby Cities
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