TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Cashing out a customer, Jason Arnold, the manager of Astro Smoke Shop on Golf Links and Harrison, counted out change.
It’s the store’s third year of operating, Arnold saying each year their sales grow. It’s a success story said as well for their store on Grant and Swan, where he also works.
On Monday, he attended to at least fifteen customers in the course of an hour.
“You develop a friendship with the customers and you kind of get to know them a little bit,” Arnold said.
It’s that kind of relationship he said is possible because the store is open 24/7.
However, the City of Tucson’s Planning Commission is recommending to the City Council and Mayor Regina Romero that new smoke shops only operate from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
“Being open 24-hours allows us to serve the people of the community that keep night time hours. There’s a lot of people that work overnights,” he shared.
While Arnold works an earlier shift, there are many workers at both locations that work overnight.
If the City limits new shops’ hours, he says it could also affect workers.
“It would cut down hours, so some people would not have an overnight shift available,” Arnold revealed.
The City’s Planning and Development Services department said smoke shops that are already open would only be able to expand their floor area by up to 50%. After that, they would need special approval.
The Planning Commission is also recommending the following
for smoke shops:
- At least a thousand feet away from schools and other smoke shops
- At least 500 feet away from parks
“It deters from building a better community if you have the same type of business every 3 buildings or whatever,” Arnold said.
The City Council says it will hold a public hearing with the mayor where they'll hear testimony before making a decision. There isn’t any word yet on when that hearing will be.
Like a puff of smoke, Arnold is hoping the recommendations also do away with Arizona’s high rate of kids vaping.
“It may cut back on that in terms of them having access to it without having to travel very far,” he said.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
