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Dec 28th, 2007 - 09:19:53
On Jan. 1, Illinois will become the 22nd state to implement a ban on smoking in virtually all public places, from bowling alleys and bars to restaurants and casinos. An exemption, however, will preserve tobacco shops as the last public smoking refuges, prompting at least one business owner to trade sopas for smokes. Mario's Taco House closed its doors in November and reopened as Caganchos, a tobacco store, a change which will enable the business to allow indoor smoking. The owner, Mario Martinez, and his son of the same name, are already trying to capitalize on the store's special status under the new law, with a large chalkboard trumpeting, "One of the few remaining places in Chicago where you can smoke & coffee is under a buck." It is unclear whether many other businesses are remaking themselves to take advantage of that loophole. A spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Licensing said that only after the ban takes effect will the city be able to calculate whether there has been an increase in stores tailored to the exemption. The younger Martinez acknowledged that the impending smoking ban was part of the motivation behind Caganchos' move from chorizo to cigars. "Maybe it was one idea, to capitalize on the switch," Martinez said. Under the law, retail tobacco stores where at least 80 percent of gross income comes from the sale of tobacco or tobacco-related products can continue to allow smoking inside their doors in 2008. Caganchos now sells cigars, specialty cigarettes, and tobacco for pipes and hookahs. The kitchen has been replaced by a walk-in humidor, filled with cigars from a company owned by Martinez' cousin in Miami. Mounted animal heads and antique signs adorn the walls above green and brown leather couches, providing a decor more evocative of a hunting lodge than a store. The owners said they would also sell coffee and espresso, but no more extravagant refreshment. Under the state law, retail tobacco stores that allow smoking are no longer allowed to carry liquor or food service licenses. That rule replaces exemptions included in the existing Chicago smoking ban, passed in December 2005, which defined retail tobacco stores as businesses with only 65 percent of their income coming from tobacco products. That ordinance also allowed food and liquor to be served. The previous exemption was used by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. to open Marshall McGearty Tobacco Lounge in Chicago's hip Wicker Park neighborhood around the time the Chicago smoking ban passed. Marshall McGearty has served alcoholic drinks and bar food for the last two years, but changing regulations will force them to cut back to selling only cigarettes. "For us to operate within the new guidelines, we will not be serving any food or beverage," said R.J. Reynolds spokesman David Howard. "Nothing at all. I don't believe the legislation allows us to do anything." Nasir Salim, 27, of Chicago owns four Dhuwan hookah lounges in Chicago and the suburbs that all opened within the last two years. He said that all four would serve only prepackaged food and soft drinks after the ban goes into effect. One lounge, in Lisle, had a kitchen, but Salim is closing the kitchen and opening a restaurant next door to the hookah lounge. "It's fully compliant," Salim said. "People can go eat at the restaurant, and after they're done, come next door and smoke." Salim allows cigarette and cigar smoking in his lounges, in addition to providing hookahs, Middle Eastern water pipes. He says he expects the largest increase in business at his Lincoln Park location after the ban goes into effect. "I see an increase in clientele just based off of being allowed to smoke indoors," Salim said, "especially during wintertime." Yusef Brown, a Chicago resident who said he visits Marshall McGearty almost every day, says he can already see crowds at the smoking lounge getting larger. "The only thing this law will do is call more attention to places like this," said Brown, 34. Michelle Aiello, 28, is also a regular customer, but she thinks the loss of food and beverage service may keep people away. "I will probably come just as much, but it will be unfortunate," she said. "I think it will definitely affect business." Martinez has noticed a changing population around his father's store as the young, artsy Wicker Park crowd begins to overflow into neighboring Humboldt Park. But he doesn't think his business will attract young smokers evicted from bars. "Our target is probably middle-aged to upper-aged men, probably not from this area," Martinez said. "We're hoping people will drive by and catch an eye on the place." The retail tobacco shop exemption is a common characteristic of state smoking bans, said Kathy Drea, director of public policy for the American Lung Association of Illinois and Greater Chicago, which drafted the legislation. Drea said that some form of the tobacco store exemption is in the laws of the 21 other states that have passed smoking bans, but that the definition of a tobacco store in the Illinois exemption is limited compared to other state's smoking laws. "It keeps getting more strict, more tightly written," Drea said. The state law specifies that retail tobacco stores that share space in a building with other businesses must be in operation before Jan. 1 to be grandfathered under the exemption. To allow smoking, any tobacco shop that opens after Jan. 1 must be the sole occupant of a free-standing structure, according to Illinois Department of Public Health spokeswoman Melanie Arnold. Stores are required to submit a yearly affidavit to the Illinois Department of Public Health confirming that at least 80 percent of their sales are from tobacco and tobacco accessories. Arnold said that compliance with the rule would largely be monitored by local health departments and law enforcement. "We would monitor [tobacco stores] just like we do any other restaurant or any other bar, if they came to our attention," said David Hass, public information officer for the Du Page County Health Department. Under the state ban, people caught smoking in non-exempt public places can be fined as much as $250. Owners and operators of places where people are found to be smoking illegally can be fined from $250 on the first violation up to $2,500 on the third, Arnold said. At Caganchos, the younger Martinez, who does not smoke, said he sympathizes with the dwindling options for those who do. "Everything slowly but surely is being regulated, taken away, and made illegal," Martinez said. © Copyright 2006 by DiscountCigarettesBox.Com Top of Page |
