Berkshire Pipe & Tobacco Sees License Suspension
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — After repeat violations, a longtime Tyler Street retailer cannot sell tobacco until the end of the year.
On Wednesday, the Board of Health voted to suspend Berkshire Pipe and Tobacco's license until Dec. 11. The store has paid $4,300 in fines for selling flavored products, missing signage for blunt wraps, failure to request identification, and more.
"It's a tough decision for us," Chair Roberta Elliott said. "Because we don't like to be in a situation like this but we find ourselves here because we have a tobacco-selling store that has not taken things seriously and now is saying that they're going to all of a sudden."
In January, the BOH warned that if issues were not fixed by Feb. 1 or if another violation
occurred, it would suspend the license. Director of Public Health Andy Cambi reported that the store was still not organized a couple of weeks later and still had banned products.
"And then on Feb. 11, we went out there and still in the same condition. There were rooms that were locked. We asked for access to that," he said.
"We also found products just scattered throughout the whole facility, tobacco products, and as we did our deep dive into it because we saw that it wasn't getting organized, we were able to identify products that were flavored."
He reported finding tobacco flavors such as banana, vanilla, and cranberry punch behind the counter and issued an indefinite suspension.
"I was just really frustrated with the progress that the store had made, which was zero," Cambi said. "I'm tired of hearing that 'We'll do better.'"
Berkshire Pipe and Tobacco was brought before the board in December and had until February to correct the citations. It was pointed out the 17-year-old business has seen around nine violations.
Store representative Nipal Saluja said he was not there to make any excuses and "I completely acknowledge all this happened." He attributed the delays to family members being out of town and said they took five days to clean up after the suspension.
"They are welcome to do an inspection again any time they want. They will not find any more flavor products in there," he said.
He reported that they are "losing sales every day" and wish to be a full convenience store again — selling food, drinks, and other items.
Board members said they ran out of sympathy for the business owners when they continued not to follow rules. Dr. Jeffrey Leppo stood up against a suspension at the last meeting but voted in favor this time.
"I really felt we needed to give you another chance and I feel like that just disappeared as soon as your group left the meeting and you continued right on as though nothing to worry about," he said.
Saluja said they had learned a lesson the hard way and asked for one more chance.
"I'm inclined not to just give them a break again because we've done this consistently and it's a privilege that we're extending for you to be able to sell tobacco products and with that comes a huge responsibility to do it the right way," Elliott said.
"And time and time again, you've been in front of the board and we've said you have to do it the right way and you don't."
She added that a $4,300 fine is the largest she has seen in all of her years on the BOH. The business will also have to pay a $2,000 state fine.
"We do take these decisions to heart," Elliott said.
Tags: license board, tobacco regulations,
