Palatine, IL Business Licensing & Operations: Tobacco Retail License (2026)

Village Code Section 20-276 requires a license from the village clerk before any retailer can sell cigarettes, cigars, or tobacco in any form or quantity, and the clerk can refuse a license to an applicant, or a corporation's local representative, who is not a person of good character. Section 20-277 sets an annual fee under the village fee schedule for that license. Once licensed, a retailer must keep the premises clean and sanitary under Section 20-278, subject to health officer inspections. Section 20-279 makes it unlawful to sell, give samples of, or otherwise furnish any tobacco product, electronic cigarette, or alternative nicotine product to anyone under 21, and Section 20-280 separately criminalizes possession of those products by anyone under 21, bars any person, including a licensee, from selling or delivering them to a person under 21, and bars a person under 21 from using false identification to buy them.

Section 20-281 requires every licensee to post signage at or near each display of tobacco products informing customers of the age restriction, with the sign format matching what the state department of human services requires. Section 20-282 bans selling tobacco products through vending machines altogether, closing off a route around the age-verification requirement. Fines for any violation of this division are set under the village fine schedule per Section 20-283, and the village manager can suspend or revoke a tobacco retail license under Section 20-284 using the same procedures that apply to other licenses in chapter 20, including a hearing and the right to appeal to the circuit court.