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

Ordinance No. 2018-10, the Tobacco Sales Ordinance, applies only in the part of Anoka County where a city or town does not already license retail tobacco sales (Sec. 3), so it reaches unincorporated townships and any municipality that has not adopted its own tobacco licensing program. 1 bars anyone from selling or distributing tobacco, tobacco products, or tobacco-related devices, cigarette papers, pipes and hookah pipes among them, without a valid county license. Applicants file with the Anoka County Community Health and Environmental Services Department (Sec.

2), which must issue the license once the application is complete and the applicant is in compliance, or return it with notice of the corrections needed, or deny it with notice of a right to appeal (Sec. 3). The license year runs September 1 through August 31, with renewal applications due by July 31 (Secs. 7). Only fixed-location businesses qualify: no license issues to a moveable place of business (Sec. 5), and the license must be posted in plain view on the premises (Sec. 6).

Selling to anyone under 18 is barred outright (Sec. 1). Violations draw an administrative penalty of $75 for a first offense at a location, $200 for a second within 24 months, and $250 plus a mandatory seven-day license suspension for a third within 24 months; an individual clerk who sells to a minor separately faces a $50 penalty (Sec. 1). Relying in good faith on a driver's license, military ID, or passport showing the buyer is of age is an affirmative defense (Sec. 2). Appeals of a violation notice, suspension, revocation or denial go to the Department Director, whose decision is final except as otherwise provided by law (Sec. 1 is a misdemeanor (Sec. 5). The ordinance replaced Ordinance Nos. 98-3 and 2010-1.