Niagara Stores Fined for Selling Tobacco to Minors

Source from:  Buffalo News 04/15/2015

The Niagara County Health Department announced Tuesday that eight stores in the county have been fined for selling tobacco to minors.

In conjunction with the Sheriff's Office, the county sends volunteer 16- and 17-year-olds into stores to try to buy tobacco products without identification. They are instructed to be truthful if asked their ages. The eight violations were found during visits to 181 between July 1 and March 31.

Second-time violators were the Crosby's store on Rochester Road in Gasport and the Sunset Arrow Mart on Sunset Drive in Lockport. First-time offenders were three 7-Eleven stores, on Buffalo Avenue and Niagara Falls Boulevard in Niagara Falls and Oliver Street in North Tonawanda; and three other Falls stores, a Sunoco station on Main Street, the Center Court Market on 20th Street and the Third Street Variety Store.

The eight fines totaled $6,500. The Health Department can impose fines ranging from $350 to $2,500 for each offense, and the stores must conduct compliance training for their workers, monitored by the Health Department. Enditem