Council Denies Tobacco Hardship Exemption Appeal to Snack Shop on South Robertson

The City Council denied a tobacco hardship exemption appeal for a snack shop on South Robertson Drive last Tuesday.

Beverly Hills became the first city to ban the sale of tobacco products at the start of the year. Despite this, the city allowed qualified tobacco retailers to apply for exemptions that could permit them to continue selling tobacco products temporarily.

Kyrilous Snack Shop, a 34 year old business located at a Shell gas station, did just that. The store requested to sell tobacco products for another two years, after which business-owner Roshdy Sidarous said he would retire.

But the city only granted the shop a one year extension, which led Sidarous to file an appeal.

“The biggest reason we’re asking for the full two years is because COVID had a huge impact on the business last year,” said Marina Danial, Sidarous’ daughter.

According to the appeal, Kyrilous Snack Shop’s lease for its 50 square foot space is $500 a month and it has four employees. Its gross income in 2020 was around $130,000. This is almost $70,000 less than it made in 2019, and about $60,000 less than it made in 2018.

Tobacco products make up 43.6% of the shop’s overall sales on average.

“[He] doesn’t own any of the property. It’s all space that’s rented,” Danial said. “There is no possibility of moving the business, because it’s such a small location and there’s nothing comparable to what he’s paying now in terms of his lease to make up for any loss of business.”

Councilmembers voted 3-2 to deny the business’ appeal, with Mayor Lester Friedman and Vice Mayor Robert Wunderlich dissenting.

Councilmember John Mirisch said the council’s decision to ban the sale of tobacco was sacred.

“Because it has to do with the health of our city,” Mirisch said. “It has to do with values. It has to do with the worth of human beings not just being consumers who corporations can sell deadly items to and profit off of.”

Mirisch added the business should consider selling lottery tickets. But according to Sidarous, businesses are required to provide access and parking to people with disabilities to sell lottery tickets – which he can’t do because he doesn’t own the property.

“Perhaps our inspectors can help, but I do believe that looking at trying to get lottery tickets or scratchers might be something that could replace cigarettes because they don’t require a lot of space,” Mirisch said. “They are high-profit items and a lot of people who get gas, if they knew that they could get lottery tickets and saw that the jackpot was a billion dollars, they’d say ‘You know what, I’ll get some lottery tickets.’”

According to the California Lottery, lottery retailers can earn between 4.5 and 6% commission on the items they sell. According to the Ohio Lottery’s website, the average retailer earns $15,000 in commission annually by selling lottery tickets.

Councilmember Lili Bosse said the council unanimously approved a ban on tobacco products and it was one of her proudest moments.

“I appreciate what you had said, that there wouldn’t be the same amount of revenue to sell anything else other than tobacco but I would’ve liked to have seen perhaps businesses try to sell something else,” Bosse said.

According to Danial, the city assessed the shop and found that it did not have the ability to sell other items. The shop is too small to sell other items, Danial said.

Wunderlich said he supports the tobacco ordinance, but it had several criteria for tobacco hardships exemptions that Kyrilous Snack Shop meets. He said the criteria it meets includes not being able to sell other items or relocate.

“This business does not have the same opportunities to change that some other businesses might have,” Wunderlich said. “It’s also not as if whether there’s a large pipeline of other businesses that are applying for exemptions. This would be a one-off and so I do vote to overturn the decision of the hearing officer.”

He added that the council could grant the two-year extension and it would still be achieving the objectives of the ordinance by limiting tobacco sales overall.

While the appeal was denied, the council agreed to refund Sidarous for the cost of filing it with the city at Friedman’s suggestion.