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

030 governs pawnshops, applying to all new smoke shops in the city under subsection (A). Subsection (B) sets the buffer: smoke shops shall not be located closer than 1,000 feet from another smoke shop and no closer than 1,000 feet from a public school, park, community center, or library. Subsection (C) spells out how that distance is measured: in a straight line, without regard to intervening structures or objects, from the closest exterior wall of the structure housing the smoke shop to the property line of the parcel containing the sensitive use or other smoke shop.

Subsection (D) adds a signage mandate: smoke shops must post clear signage stating that minors may not enter the premises unless accompanied by a parent or legal guardian, with at least one sign required in a conspicuous location near each public entrance, and the code makes it unlawful for a smoke shop to fail to display and maintain that signage. Subsection (E) covers merchandise security, requiring that tobacco products be secured so that only store employees have immediate access to the tobacco products and/or tobacco paraphernalia, and expressly prohibiting self-service displays.

Together the 1,000-foot buffer, mandatory age-restriction signage, and ban on open-shelf tobacco displays function as the city's zoning and operating gate on where and how a smoke shop or vape retailer can locate and run in Rancho Cucamonga.