What's at stake:
If four councilmembers approve a proposal to regulate Fresno smoke shops, dozens of them will have to either close down or change the nature of their business by 2026.
The fate of smoke shops in Fresno is on the line once again.
If a proposal to define smoke shops in Fresno’s city code — and also regulate them — gets the support of at least four councilmembers on Thursday, it could mean the end of dozens of stores in Fresno.
The proposal’s co-sponsors — councilmembers Miguel Arias, Annalisa Perea and Nelson Esparza — changed it slightly from last month’s version, but it’s largely the same.
The policy would still allow up to only seven smoke shops per city council district in Fresno — a total of 49 citywide. Right now, Fresno has at least 144 smoke shops and only 82 have a business license, City Attorney Andrew Janz confirmed to Fresnoland.
“They’ve become a clear public health and public safety threat to residential neighborhoods because they’re allowed to open anywhere in the city without any notice to neighbors,” Arias told Fresnoland, “and without the city being able to pose any conditions as we would on any other business that sells adult-oriented controlled substances.”
Arias said smoke shops are hubs for criminal activity. Every single smoke shop investigated by city code enforcement since August 2023 violated city code in some way. All but four were selling illegal tobacco products, and about 79% of them were selling marijuana and cannabis products without the required license.
Additionally, city code inspectors have also observed gambling and confiscated firearms at some smoke shops.
Still, some Fresno councilmembers have said the proposal is too harsh. Since the city already has more smoke shops than what’s allowed in the policy, at least 33 smoke shops would have to close down or change the nature of their business by 2026.
That figure is expected to be much higher. The proposal’s co-sponsors intend to use a lottery system to determine which smoke shops will get a conditional permit required to stick around.
“The purported intent of this policy by the authors is to increase the quality of life of some folks in their districts,” Councilmember Tyler Maxwell told Fresnoland, “but to do so at the cost of putting nearly 50 Fresno business owners out of a job overnight — it’s just not something I can do.”
Maxwell added that he has been looking into less harsh alternatives alongside City Council President Mike Karbassi. That includes exploring whether Fresno could benefit from a tobacco retail license system, similar to Clovis. Those discussions are still in their early stages and will not be up for consideration this week — and Maxwell said he couldn’t go into more detail.
“I understand the optics,” Maxwell said. “I’m certainly no fan of these smoke shops. I’m not sure anybody on the city council is, but I believe in due process. I think if you’re operating a business ethically, if you’re not violating the law and you’re running an honest business, you shouldn’t be put out of a job overnight.”
Dozens of smoke shops operate without a business license?
Janz, Fresno’s city attorney, told Fresnoland that his office has been investigating smoke shops since August 2023.
One common theme his office found: Dozens of smoke shops don’t have business licenses.
Janz said “based on the way that the laws are written,” city officials aren’t able to shut down smoke shops for not having a required business license. All the city can do is issue fines.
“There is no way for us to just unilaterally shut them down,” Janz said.
It’s different for some other types of businesses, like restaurants.
“The thing that we have with restaurants is health and safety code,” Janz said. “So if there are health and safety issues, the city and the county has the ability to go in and just shut them down. And then we can red tape the building so people can’t go in.”
Arias told Fresnoland that $250 fines for not having a business license doesn’t exactly force smoke shop operators to get their act together. He also said the process gets dragged out.
“They’re playing the cat and mouse game with us,” Arias said. “They know that by the time we inspect them, if we ever get around to them, the most we can do is a $250 fine — which they can appeal and delay payment for at least two years.”
Arias emphasized that tackling the concentration of smoke shops in south Fresno is something he and his co-sponsors are intent on.
“We ultimately answer to the needs and expectations of our neighbors and our communities,” Arias said. “This has become a significant public health and safety risk and threat to our southern neighborhoods. I acknowledge that is not the case in north Fresno, but we should not have a double standard for what occurs in north and south Fresno.”
Smoke shop owners’ desperate pleas to councilmembers
During a hearing on the smoke shop policy at the March 13 City Council meeting, smoke shop operators spoke out in opposition, emphasizing that their businesses are how they put food on the table.
“Don’t shut me down after 16 years,” said one smoke shop operator named Fabian during public comment. “Where am I gonna go? What do you guys want me to do? There’s a lot of us that worked hard for this — average American people that just want to do the right thing. All we want to do is work. How is that bad? How is that wrong?”
Another smoke shop operator named Hussein acknowledged there are bad actors, but said it’s unfair to lump all smoke shops together and treat them like they’re all criminals. He pleaded with councilmembers to not approve the proposal.
“I actually have a business partner where he’s looking into doing something different, because the city is shutting us down and he can’t make a living,” Hussein said. “Eight years he dedicated to being in the smoke shop business, or the tobacco business … and a day later, he’s like, ‘Wow, I gotta look for something to do — city of Fresno is shutting us down.’”
Another owner named Sam told councilmembers in March that closing down smoke shops will only increase the presence of black market sales in Fresno.
“It’s a bigger black market effect: your kids or your adults going somewhere to the alleys or who knows where they’re going because the stores are shut down,” Sam said at the March hearing.
Why this Thursday’s vote could be decisive
When the proposal was considered last month in its first reading, the Fresno City Council was shorthanded. But the empty council district 5 seat representing southeast Fresno is now filled by Brandon Vang.
The vote this Thursday will be the first time Vang has publicly considered the proposal to regulate smoke shops.
Additionally, while the council didn’t approve the policy last month, votes on the first reading of a new proposal are symbolic and have no bearing on its passage.
All that’s needed to pass a new proposal is approval on its second reading — slated for Thursday.
But if the policy isn’t approved, its co-sponsors are back to square one. They’d have to reintroduce a smoke shop regulation proposal at one council meeting and then bring it back for approval at another.
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