BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. – Retailers in several Minnesota localities are upset over ordinances that have raised the price of small stogies and cigarillos in convenience stores, the Watchdog Minnesota Bureau reports. “The goal is to make those products a bit less successful, by getting the price up, so that they are less appealing to young people,” said Emily Anderson with the Association of Nonsmokers-Minnesota.

St. Paul and Brooklyn Center both have implemented laws that jack up the cost of cigars and cigarillos, with Northfield, Minneapolis and Bloomington discussing similar measures. The change has retailers upset. “In effect, the ordinances are ushering in a new era of prohibition, that’s basically what it’s doing,” said Tom Briant, executive director of the National Association of Tobacco Outlets. “This is very detrimental and damaging to retailers, because your average convenience store relies on tobacco sales inside their stores for 40% of their in-store sales.”

The Brooklyn Center City Council put the minimum price for cigarillos at $2.10 per smoke, whether sold as singles or in packs. At the Winner Gas and Convenience, for example, sales have been down for other items because customers no longer stop in to buy tobacco products. “People change their route now, they go somewhere else. They go to Brooklyn Park or Minneapolis,” said owner Tony Awad. “We’re not just losing that sale, we’re losing what comes with it — gas, groceries, chips, pop, candy, all that stuff.”

What also burns is that customers are stopping in to nearby Brooklyn Park, which offers small cigars at a much lower price. “We’re benefiting from it, definitely. I’m selling more because a lot of people are coming to buy them,” said Mohamed Ali, who manages the Quick Stop in Brooklyn Park.