Convenience Store Group Opposes Age 21 Smoking Limit

August 12, 2014
NACS Online
Age restrictions deemed unfair to both retailers and adult consumers.
​ENGLEWOOD, N.J. – Beginning this week, Englewood, New Jersey’s citywide ban on tobacco and nicotine sales to anyone under 21 will go into effect. But representatives of the state’s gas station and convenience store owners say the ban will hurt small businesses and infringes on the rights of their adult customers.
Englewood recently became the first municipality in New Jersey to raise the minimum age for sales of tobacco and “nicotine delivery” products — including cigarettes, cigars and e-cigarettes — to 21. Any retailers caught violating the provisions of the new ordinance could be subject to a $250 fine for the first offense and fines of up to $1,000, 90 days in jail and suspension of their retail-food licenses for a third or any subsequent offense committed in one year, according to a report on NorthJersey.com.
“It is the right of every adult consumer to decide which products to indulge in and which to abstain from,” said Sal Risalvato, executive director of the New Jersey Gasoline-Convenience-Automotive Association (NJGCAA), in the publication. “This ordinance removes that freedom of choice from legal adults, who are old enough to sign a contract, get married or go to war, yet are apparently incapable of deciding whether to use tobacco products.”
Not only will small-business owners in Englewood lose customers to their competitors in neighboring towns, but the retailers — not customers — are the only ones who would be penalized if the ordinance is violated, according to NJGCAA.