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

24 requires any "tobacco retailer," defined as a person who sells or exchanges "tobacco, tobacco products or tobacco paraphernalia," to hold a city license before selling at a fixed location. The chapter's TOBACCO PRODUCT definition reaches "any product or formulation of matter containing biologically active amounts of nicotine," which pulls vapor and e-cigarette retailers into the same licensing scheme unless a store qualifies as a RETAIL TOBACCO STORE devoting at least 80% of its floor and shelf space to tobacco goods. 030(A), retailing without a valid license is itself a public nuisance.

060 sets the license term at one year from issuance, requires renewal at least 30 days before expiration, and allows reinstatement of a lapsed license only after paying the renewal fee plus a reinstatement fee of at least 10% of that fee, with actual fee amounts fixed separately by City Council resolution. 040 lets the city deny a license for an incomplete application, a location under a current license prohibition, or a proprietor already barred under the chapter. 070 bans self-service displays and vending machines, requires an ID check of any purchaser who reasonably appears under 30, and bars anyone younger than the state minimum sale age from working as a tobacco retailer.

050: a change of location, ownership, or business sale requires a brand-new license, and violations already on record follow the location unless the incoming owner proves an arm's-length purchase.