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

Division 2 of Chapter 18, Article XIV (Secs. 18-611 through 18-621) requires a license from the city comptroller before keeping, selling, or giving away any tobacco or alternative nicotine product, a category Sec. 18-590 defines to include electronic cigarettes, vape pens, e-hookahs, and their components, "interpreted to be an alternative nicotine product" regardless of nicotine content. Sec. 18-613 requires a written application listing ownership, a criminal background check and fingerprints for every owner and officer, and a nonrefundable $150 filing fee separate from the license fee itself; the police superintendent has 45 days to investigate and recommend approval or denial.

Sec. 18-614 sets the annual fee at $500 for a Class 1 license (under 50 percent of gross sales from tobacco or nicotine products) and $1,000 for a Class 2 license (50 percent or more), due on application for Class 1 and on approval for Class 2, with renewals due by February 28 each year; a vending-machine license is always treated as Class 1. Sec. 18-592 bars any sale to a person under 21. Sec. 18-593 bars sales within 350 feet of a public, private, or parochial elementary, middle, or secondary school, measured property line to property line, though licenses already valid as of June 10, 2014 are grandfathered as long as they keep renewing, and retail gasoline dealers licensed by that date are exempt from the buffer.

Sec. 18-621 caps the citywide total at 125 Class 1 and 13 Class 2 licenses effective July 14, 2026, though licenses issued before July 11, 2023 that keep renewing without revocation continue regardless of the cap. Class 2 applications must also clear the special-use site approval process under the Unified Development Code (Secs. 18-625, 18-626).