Lynwood, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Tobacco Retail License (2026)

Chapter 4-33 licenses every retail seller of cigarettes, cigars, vape and e-cigarette devices, and tobacco paraphernalia in Lynwood, defining a 'significant tobacco retailer' as one where tobacco makes up twenty percent of floor space, sixty-seven percent of gross sales, or fifty percent of transactions (§ 4-33.01). Section 4-33.02 requires a valid tobacco retailer's license displayed at the location, positive age identification for anyone who appears under twenty-seven, a ban on self-service tobacco displays except for adult-only significant retailers, a ban on edible tobacco look-alikes such as candy cigarettes, and a ban on smoking or ash receptacles within twenty-five feet of any doorway or vent.

No license may issue for a mobile or vehicle-based seller, a location without an off-sale alcohol license from the state, a location where indoor smoking is allowed, a residentially zoned parcel, a site within five hundred feet of a school, licensed day care, library, playground, youth center, religious institution, recreational facility, arcade, or public park, or a site within two hundred feet of another tobacco retailer (§ 4-33.03). Citywide licenses are capped at one for every 1,000 residents or fraction thereof, based on the most current U.S.

Census Bureau or California Department of Finance count (§ 4-33.03(g)). Applications require proof of a valid state Board of Equalization tobacco license and disclosure of any violations in the prior five years (§ 4-33.04). Compliance checks, including youth decoy stings run with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, occur at least twice per twelve-month period (§ 4-33.10).