• Al Capone$44.00
• Astra$7.60
• Atis$15.30
• Avalon$12.40
• Beratt$15.10
• Bond Street$12.40
• Camel$17.00
• Chesterfield$15.10
• Cigaronne$20.10
• Classic$11.10
• Cosmos$9.43
• Davidoff$21.10
• Doina$10.10
• Dunhill$31.10
• Esse$16.70
• Eva$14.70
• Focus$11.10
• Fluieras$10.10
• Glamour$14.20
• Hilton$11.10
• Karelia$18.10
• Kent$18.90
• Kiss$13.90
• L&M$14.10
• Lady$13.80
• Leana$8.10
• LD$8.40
• Luceafar$9.60
• Lucky Strike$15.60
• Marengo$22.60
• Marlboro$18.70
• Monte Carlo$12.60
• Moods$56.60
• MT$10.60
• Nistru$8.60
• OK$13.10
• Orbita$9.60
• Pall Mall$15.30
• Parliament$22.60
• Plai$10.10
• Plugarul$10.10
• Prima Lux$11.60
• Prefect$12.40
• R1 Slim$17.40
• Red & White$11.10
• Rich$16.70
• Richmond$31.10
• Ritm$11.10
• Sobranie$38.70
• Style$12.10
• Temp$10.10
• Viceroy$11.60
• Virginia$17.70
• Vogue$21.10
• Wind$12.40
• Winston$15.60
• Zimbru$9.60

San Francisco seeks reducing the number of tobacco stores dramatically

Smokers are shocked and business owners are raging over a drastic proposal to significantly decrease the number of certified tobacco stores across San Francisco.

Within the last 5 years stores willing to sell tobacco have to receive a special certificate. The process of certification was launched in order to for officials to track the stores and penalize those businesses that sell tobacco products to adolescents.

However, according to anti-tobacco groups, currently there is an excessive amount of certified sellers – especially in poor communities. So, they have introduced a proposal to curtail the number of tobacco licenses.

The proposed regulation includes a limit of 35 licenses in each district of the City - 385 in aggregate across San Francisco. That is almost a 60 percent reduction, as currently there are 1,097 shops in the City that have a tobacco license.

In conformity with the proposal, current licenses would not be annulled, but simply not renewed after expiration, until the number of stores in each district reaches 35. In addition, it would be prohibited for the owners to pass the licenses in case they sell their businesses, admitted Jeanette Wide, head of Small Business Committee.

The public health organizations praise the proposal, saying that although it would slightly hurt adult smokers, but it will protect children from potential temptation of taking up smoking.

The ordinance is currently being reviewed and has not been supported by any member of Supervision Board yet.

Proposal opponents, mostly store owners, claim that it would dash their business, damaging their health and life of their families.

For the majority of small shops, sales of tobacco products makes up one-third of all revenues, admitted Johnny Al-Mahmoud, vice president of Association of Arab-American grocers that has introduced their own proposal prohibiting new licenses but permitting passage of the license to new proprietors.

Mr. Al-Mahmoud said if the Supervisors approved the law without amendments proposed by the Association, it would destroy small business.

And even if the City officials decide to cancel the tobacco licenses, they provide assistance for small shops owners to change their businesses to offset lost revenues, stated Diane Hooper, vice head of the Office of Small Business.

Restricting the number of tobacco stores is the newest step in the drastic anti-smoking measures supported by the City officials.

In 2008 San Francisco made into the news, when it banned sales of tobacco products in pharmacies, excluding only supermarkets that include pharmacies.

Later, the City began levying a 20-cent tax on cleaning the streets from cigarette butts. Also, The City recently imposed a 20-cent fee on each pack of cigarettes sold in San Francisco to offset the cost to clean up cigarette butts from city streets.

Another bill, currently pending in the Board of Supervisors will ban smoking in patios of restaurants, farmer markets, parks and playgrounds, outdoor sports events and residential complexes.