Sandy, UT Business Licensing & Operations: Tobacco Retail License (2026)

Sandy City Code § 21-37-2 defines an "alcohol or tobacco specialty store" as a business whose signage, floor space, or sales revenue show it is substantially engaged in selling alcohol or tobacco, triggered when tobacco sales exceed 35 percent of gross annual receipts, 20 percent of retail floor or shelf space is devoted to tobacco, less than 80 percent of shelf space is unrelated to tobacco, or the store features a self-service tobacco display. The definition of "tobacco product" explicitly reaches "any cigar, cigarette, chewing tobacco, or electronic cigarette as defined in Utah State Code," so a dedicated vape or e-cigarette retailer that crosses those thresholds is zoned as a tobacco specialty store rather than as ordinary retail.

Explanatory Note 10 to the Permitted Land Use Matrix at § 21-8-2 then bars the use if any part of the building sits within 1,000 feet of a school, licensed child care facility, church, library, park, youth center, recreational facility, or arcade, measured from the property line of the community location; within 600 feet of another alcohol or tobacco specialty store or a residential or agricultural use or zoning boundary, measured from the boundary to the structure; or within 150 feet of the 9000 South Street gateway corridor between its western boundary and State Street, measured from the right-of-way to the property line.

Because the restriction sits inside the commercial, office, industrial, mixed-use, transit corridor, and research and development district matrix, it applies zone by zone rather than city-wide, and a qualifying store must still carry Sandy's underlying business license before opening.