Shreveport, LA Business Licensing & Operations: Tobacco Retail License (2026)
Key Facts
- Permit types
- Class VS (shop) and Class VR (retailer)
- Minimum age
- 21 or older
- Residency
- 2-year Louisiana residency required
- Annual fee
- $500 annual permit fee
- Processing fee
- $500 initial, $100 renewal
- Penalty
- Up to $500 fine, 60 days jail
Summary
Selling vapor products, e-cigarettes, vape juice or related devices in Shreveport requires a city permit from the police department before opening, split into a Class VS permit for dedicated vape shops and a Class VR permit for retailers where vaping products are a smaller share of sales. Operating even one day without a valid permit is its own separate violation.
Before engaging in the business of dealing in vapor products, vapor products shops and vapor product retailers shall obtain from the city a current permit to conduct such business. No person shall sell, barter, or exchange, vapor products or do any other act for which a permit is required without first having obtained such permit. Each day's conduct of business by a shop or retail dealer without such valid permit shall constitute a separate violation of this section. The wholesale dealer shall not sell, barter, exchange, or deliver any vapor products to the premises of any shop or retail dealer or any other person without verifying that a current vapor product permit has been issued by the city for that premises. Whoever violates this section shall be punishable by a fine of not more than $500.00 or imprisonment of not more than 60 days or both.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 85 Update 1 | Unified Development Code: Supplement 20).
Full Breakdown
Ordinance No. 81 of 2025 rewrote chapter 11 to license vapor products sales the way the city already licensed alcohol and other regulated goods. A 'vapor products shop' is a business whose vaping products make up 26 percent or more of retail sales and needs a Class VS permit; a 'vapor products retailer,' where vaping is 25 percent or less of sales, needs the Class VR permit instead, and the two permits carry separate application tracks under section 11-21. citizen and two-year Louisiana resident, owner or bona fide lessee of the premises, with no felony conviction, no prior revoked vapor permit, and no two-or-more municipal ordinance convictions in the preceding two years.
Corporate applicants must qualify every officer, director and five-percent-plus stockholder the same way. 00 renewal processing fee, all due at least 30 days before the existing permit expires and collected by the director of finance. Every shop must post an on-duty manager's name in 72-point letters on a placard at least four by 12 inches, and wholesale dealers are barred from delivering product to any shop or retailer premises without first verifying the city permit for that address is current.
Violations & Fines
Selling, bartering or exchanging vapor products without the required permit is punishable under section 11-22 by a fine of up to $500.00, up to 60 days in jail, or both, with each day of unlicensed operation counted as its own separate violation. The chief of police can deny, suspend or revoke a permit for failing the qualification standards in section 11-25 or for two or more ordinance violations within a year, and a revoked or denied premises stays ineligible for a new permit for up to a year unless the city council overturns the decision on appeal.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between a VS and VR vapor products permit?
Can I get a vapor products permit with a felony record?
What happens if I sell vape products without a city permit?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Shreveport
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