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Directing the Department of Safety and Inspections to proceed with adverse action and the imposition of a $500.00 matrix penalty against the Tobacco Products Shop license (License ID #826567) held by GOGETIT TOBACCO LLC d/b/a GOGETIT TOBACCO for the premises located at 2484 University Ave. W.
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WHEREAS, The Tobacco Products Shop license (License ID #826567) (“License”) is held by GOGETIT TOBACCO LLC d/b/a GOGETIT TOBACCO, owned by Mussie Embaye (“Licensee”), for the premises located at 2484 University Ave. W. in Saint Paul (“Licensed Premises”); and
WHEREAS, The Licensee was notified in a letter from the City Attorney’s Office dated August 18, 2026, titled Notice of Violation and Request for Imposition of $500.00 Matrix Penalty -- Underage Buyer Failure (“Notice”) (Exhibit #1), that the Department of Safety and Inspections (“Department”) recommended a $500.00 matrix penalty for the sale of a tobacco product to an underage buyer; and
WHEREAS, The Notice detailed that on June 18, 2026, at 3:38 p.m., Department Inspector LaTiffany Porter conducted a tobacco underage buyer compliance check at the Licensed Premises. As part of the check, a nineteen-year-old female, retained by the Department to perform the check, entered the Licensed Premises to purchase a tobacco product. The clerk did not ask for her age, nor did the clerk ask for her identification. Nevertheless, the clerk sold the underage buyer a Geek Bar Pulse vape, a tobacco product; and
WHEREAS, On June 29, 2026, the Department sent a letter to the Licensee. The letter stated that the Department had conducted a state-mandated, annual inspection and that a person under the age of 21, hired by the Department to conduct the check, purchased a tobacco product from the Licensee at the Licensed Premises; and
WHEREAS, The Notice laid out the basis for adverse action and the law upon which the Department relied; and
WHEREAS, Because the Licensee failed the tobacco underage buyer compliance c...
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