LYNN — The Board of Health has voted to not shut down Jolly Vapors five months after flavored vape products were found in its building on Woodman Street.
On May 23, Ordinance Enforcement Officer Christopher Poole conducted an inspection at 104 Woodman St. and found “thousands” of flavored vape products in a box in a back room.
It has been illegal to sell flavored vape products in retail stores in Massachusetts since 2020, and the Board questioned if the violation is considered egregious enough to warrant revoking the store’s tobacco license.
However, owner Jack Jolly and attorney Sam Vitali said that the part of the building where the flavored products were stored was leased to an unaffiliated individual, Eric Schwarz, who is a licensed tobacco distributor in New Hampshire and was using the room as a storage area.
While Board member Dr. Clark Van Den Berghe described the situation as “really suspicious,” he said that there wasn’t sufficient evidence linking Jolly to the products in order to shut the vape shop down completely.
“We’re not a court of law. If we look at the facts, I don’t think we’d be able to stand and say we have proof that he is doing this. So I don’t feel comfortable suspending it, but he’s on pretty thin ice,” Van Den Berghe said at the Board’s Oct. 21 meeting.
Chairman Ron Dupuis expressed a similar sentiment before the Board unanimously voted “no” on revoking Jolly Vapors’ license.
“This isn’t about giving anybody a chance or not giving anybody a chance. It’s about if you violate the law to a great enough amount for us to have to take away your permit. I’m not sure that this rises to that occasion. If we take it away and go to court, we’re going to lose because there’s not enough proof,” Dupuis said.
Dupuis added, “We have an obligation from a public health standpoint to protect them from egregious business practices that would negatively affect the population. We also give permits to people to make a living, and if we’re going to take that away, I think we have to be 100% clear. I don’t feel comfortable permanently suspending it either.”
Jolly Vapors has been closed at its Woodman Street location since May due to safety concerns after an unrelated shooting occurred in the neighborhood. However, new zoning ordinance laws state that in order for a tobacco retailer to open at a new location, it must get City Council approval for a special permit, as tobacco stores are considered “sensitive retail.”
Jolly said that while he has been looking for a new location since May, he hadn’t followed through with his options because the risk of having his license revoked was a possibility until recently.
“I’m glad they didn’t revoke my license. They didn’t have sufficient evidence. But it’s been a struggle to find a new location. It’s not going to be easy,” Jolly said.
