PEABODY — The Board of Health voted to revoke Peabody Vapors’ Tobacco Product Sales Permit at a hearing during their meeting Thursday night. Code Enforcement Inspector of the Health Department Randy Suckney presented evidence from an unplanned inspection on Nov. 7 where they uncovered that the owners of Peabody Vapors were selling flavored vape products that have been banned in Massachusetts.
Along with this information, Suckney also presented photos of the products they found in the store.
The Health Department conducted an investigation after receiving a complaint that the store was selling flavored vape products and that one customer saw one of the owners with keys to drawers where they kept the products. One of the owners claimed that the flavored products were for their own personal use.
Suckney said, “I said look, we have information that you sell flavored products … and you carry the key on your person … he said his partner took the keys with him and if he hasn’t had access to the drawers in over three years. Right then and there we know that that’s a lie based on what we received for information.”
Suckney said that another person involved in the inspection went to check the downstairs, and that’s where they found the flavored vape products.
“As you open up the door to go downstairs there’s at least 150 flavored vape products along the ridge going down the stairs. So that just was the beginning of what we wound up finding where we’re estimating at least 2000 packs of individual flavored vapes,” Suckney said.
Director Sharaon Cameron suspended their permits immediately pending investigation, he said.
This is Peabody Vapors’ sixth violation, two of which were for allowing minors to enter the establishment.
The owners of Peabody Vapors were not at the hearing but the BOH did everything in their power to notify them of it, they said at the meeting. Chairman Thomas Durkin, member Dr. Julia Fleet and member Anthony Carli all voted in favor of revoking their tobacco sales permit.
In the meeting, Cameron said she had a discussion with one of the owners, who claimed all vape retailers are doing similar things with selling flavored tobacco vapes.
“I haven’t seen evidence of that yet,” Durkin said in an interview. “The first step is going to be just whether it’s prudent for Peabody to have adult tobacco establishments at all. We had two, we revoked one last night, and we’re going to consider adult-only stores in the future because this may be an issue. I don’t know for sure.”
