Vapes, kratom, and shops on every corner: Why Roanoke City is cracking down on tobacco retailers

ROANOKE, Va. – A Roanoke mother reached out to 10 News through the Help Center after she says her 16-year-old son purchased vapes on two separate occasions without being carded. Her complaint, it turns out, is far from unique.

The mother, who asked to remain anonymous, says her son bought vapes once on May 28 and again on June 26, without her permission and without being carded either time.

“There are too many tobacco shops in close proximity of each other! This is a major issue,” she wrote. “Something has to give.”

Along one stretch of Williamson Road, two vape and tobacco shops sit directly across the street from each other — and just 500 feet away both ways, two more.

Council takes action

Roanoke City Council member Phazhon Nash, a Democrat, says that kind of density is exactly what pushed the council to act. Early July, Roanoke City Council unanimously approved a new ordinance placing stricter rules on where future vape and tobacco stores can open.

“It’s unregulated, it’s unchecked,” Nash said.

Nash says the issue goes well beyond nicotine. Many vape and tobacco shops also sell products like kratom, Galaxy Gas and other substances that can be dangerous if misused — especially by young people.

“Many parents reached out,” he said, adding that among them was “a father whose son had developed a problem, a substance use disorder to kratom, which is commonly sold inside of these stores.”

Educators are raising concerns, too.

“Teachers will tell you, have told me tons of stories about having drawers in their room of vapes that look like highlighters,” Nash said.

That lines up with what the Roanoke mother observed firsthand.

“Even in the school system, teachers collect hundreds of vapes from kids and most of them are buying them, not stealing from their parents,” she wrote.

What the ordinance does — and doesn’t do

The new ordinance does not shut down existing businesses. Instead, anyone looking to open a new vape or tobacco shop must receive city approval and cannot locate within 2,000 feet of schools, parks, daycares, places of worship, existing vape and tobacco establishments, or other protected areas.

A state tobacco retailer database shows there are 122 tobacco and vape retailers, ranging grocery stores to smoke shops, in Roanoke City alone. Nash says he plans to monitor those numbers closely as the ordinance takes effect.

His vision for the future goes further than zoning rules.

“My long-term goal is to see these storefronts, these businesses where they’re currently vape stores, be replaced with something that I deem … in my opinion, I kind of use the term productive for our city, right? So a place where someone can go and eat, shop, educate themselves, a place where kids can go and maybe have something to do, cause we need more places for our kids and our families to go all throughout our city. So I would like to see these establishments turn over and be more productive for our city,” Nash said.