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

162 regulate how tobacco products can be sold in the city. 140 flatly prohibits selling or distributing any cigarette or other tobacco product from a vending machine, bars anyone from keeping or maintaining such a machine on their premises, and required any machine already in place when the ordinance took effect to be removed within thirty days. 150 requires that written notice of the chapter's provisions be given to every applicant for a city business license, so any business licensing itself in Redlands is put on notice of the tobacco rules regardless of the type of license issued.

160 requires every tobacco retailer to post a plainly visible sign at the point of purchase, in letters at least one-fourth inch high, stating that sale to persons under eighteen is prohibited by law and that photo ID is required, and separately bars selling to anyone without checking identification establishing they are at least eighteen unless the seller has some other reasonable basis to judge age. 162 then requires vendor-assisted sales for tobacco products, meaning a clerk must hand over the product rather than let customers pull it from a self-service display, except at a qualifying retail tobacco store.

The code defines that exception narrowly: a retail store used primarily for selling tobacco products and accessories where at least eighty percent of the available retail floor and shelf space is devoted to tobacco-related merchandise, so any other retailer, including a vape or convenience store below that threshold, must use vendor-assisted sales.