Retail & Second-Hand · 6 min read · Last updated
This is the licence for ordinary retailers that put tobacco or electronic cigarettes in front of customers, from convenience stores to booths and stalls. It covers either product or both, and the by-law adds a separate health charge when e-cigarettes are part of what you sell. If the store is built around vaping rather than selling it alongside everything else, a separate specialty vape store licence is the one required.
The City of Hamilton lists this under its “Establishments” category: “Any building, booth, or stall, or a portion thereof where tobacco or electronic cigarettes are exposed for sale such. A separate licence is required for a Special Vape Store (SVS).”
Who needs this licence?
The class covers any building, booth or stall, or a portion of one, where tobacco or electronic cigarettes are exposed for sale. The word or is what makes this licence broad: a store selling only tobacco needs it, and so does a store selling only electronic cigarettes alongside its other lines.
Booths and stalls are named alongside buildings, so a small kiosk selling tobacco is inside this licence rather than outside it.
The by-law is explicit that a separate licence is required for a specialty vape store. The practical distinction is between a general retailer that stocks these products and a store built around electronic cigarettes. If you are not certain which describes your business, the City's tobacco licensing staff are the people to ask before you file.
Nothing in this licence changes the provincial rules on who these products may be sold to. Age verification and the other sales restrictions come from provincial law and apply regardless of your municipal licence.
What documents do you need?
The checklist has three items, which makes this one of the shorter applications in this group.
First is the completed business licence application form. Second is a valid business registration, corporate profile or master business licence dated within one year of the application, confirming the entity operating the store is currently registered.
Third is the Zoning Verification Certificate for the address, or a Zoning Addendum where the same category of business was previously licensed at that address within one year.
There is no criminal record check, no premise plan and no security deposit on this checklist. What replaces that paperwork is the health inspection, and the additional health charge that applies when electronic cigarettes are part of what you sell.
Zoning and premises requirements
A Zoning Verification Certificate is required and confirms that the zoning at your address permits the use. It is issued against the property rather than the applicant.
Where the same category of business was previously licensed at the address within one year, a Zoning Addendum may be completed instead of the full certificate. Convenience stores and similar retail units change hands frequently, so this route is often available in practice.
Note the difference from the specialty vape store licence in the same schedule: that licence accepts a building permit as an alternative and limits the addendum to premises where a specialty vape store is or was the principal or only use. This licence uses the ordinary certificate-or-addendum approach.
No premise plan or site plan is required.
Inspections and approvals
Health inspections are what this licence requires, and the request is circulated by the Licensing Team after your application has been received.
The checklist uses the plural, and a health inspection fee also appears in the renewal structure, so this is a recurring obligation rather than a single visit before the licence issues.
A separate e-cigarette health fee applies where electronic cigarettes are sold. That is worth understanding as more than a line on an invoice: selling e-cigarettes alongside tobacco brings additional public-health attention to the store, and it is charged accordingly.
No fire, parking or building inspection appears on this checklist.
How much does it cost?
A new application carries a processing fee, the licence fee and a health inspection fee. HST applies to the processing fee and the health inspection fee; the licence fee is not subject to HST.
Where electronic cigarettes are sold, an additional e-cigarette health fee applies, with HST. This is why the City's fee schedule for this class sets out several totals: with and without e-cigarettes, and with and without zoning.
Zoning verification, or the addendum where you qualify, is charged separately and carries no HST.
At renewal you pay the licence fee and the health inspection fee, plus the e-cigarette health fee if it applies to your store. A licence allowed to lapse carries a reinstatement fee with HST. Every amount is set in the City's fee schedule and confirmed when you apply.
How to apply
Decide which Schedule 27 licence fits. A general retailer selling tobacco or electronic cigarettes needs this one; a store built around electronic cigarettes needs a specialty vape store licence, and the by-law notes that a separate licence is required for one. Ask the City's tobacco licensing staff if your situation sits between the two.
Request the Zoning Verification Certificate for the address, or check whether the addendum route is open to you.
Complete the application form and obtain a business registration, corporate profile or master business licence dated within the past year.
File the application, and be clear about whether electronic cigarettes will be sold, since that determines whether the additional health fee applies. The Licensing Team then circulates the request for the health inspection or inspections.
Renewals and staying compliant
Renewal requires Declaration B to be completed. There is no in-person attendance requirement and no photo identification card attached to this licence.
The renewal structure lists the licence fee with the health inspection fee, and the e-cigarette health fee where it applies. If you add electronic cigarettes to a tobacco-only store during the year, expect that to change what you pay at renewal.
If your business shifts toward being a vape-focused store rather than a general retailer, raise it with the City. The by-law treats a specialty vape store as a separate licence, and that is a question best answered before an inspection raises it.
Renew before the expiry date. A late licence has to be reinstated and reinstatement carries its own fee with HST.
Quick quiz: test what you learned
Three questions, all answered in this guide. Click an answer to check it.
1. Which premises need a tobacco and electronic cigarette retailers licence?
The definition covers buildings, booths and stalls, or portions of them, where tobacco or electronic cigarettes are exposed for sale.
2. What additional charge applies when a retailer sells electronic cigarettes?
The fee structure adds a separate e-cigarette health fee where applicable, both at application and at renewal.
3. A store is built entirely around vaping products. Which licence applies?
Schedule 27 states that a separate licence is required for a specialty vape store, which is its own class alongside general tobacco and e-cigarette retail.
Skip the paperwork
Tell Permits2Go about your business and it assembles the licence application for you — document checklists, e-signatures and a guided workspace for Hamilton, with more cities on the way.
This guide is general information, not legal or professional advice. Licensing requirements, by-laws and fees change and vary by municipality — always confirm the current rules with the City before you apply.