State suspends west Olympia smoke shop’s licenses to sell tobacco, vapor products
The Washington state Liquor and Cannabis Board on Thursday suspended licenses that allowed a west Olympia smoke shop to sell tobacco and vapor products and seized all of its inventory that fit into those categories, according to a board spokesperson.
The board found that Silver Lining, previously Lochness Smoke Shop, sold vapor products to minors three times, obstructed its investigation into those sales, violated pandemic-related requirements and committed other violations, according to a press release and phone calls with an LCB spokesperson.
The Olympian went to the store, at 2413 Harrison Ave. NW, twice Friday with the goal of giving store representatives an opportunity to respond to the allegations.
Silver Lining was open for business, and a steady stream of customers still flowed in its door. Employees told customers who asked for tobacco or vapor products that they weren’t available but should be back in stock relatively soon. Goods still for sale included CBD products and glassware.
No employees agreed to provide their real names or speak to a reporter on the record, citing the sensitivity of the situation. One employee, who said they were not present when the suspension was served, relayed that the store estimates roughly $300,000 of inventory was seized.
The license suspensions last 180 days, but the board is planning to “pursue permanent revocation,” its press release reads. According to LCB spokesperson Julie Graham, the store has 20 days to file a request for the board to reconsider the suspensions.
The board started getting complaints about Lochness in March, according to the release. Records provided to The Olympian by LCB state that its Enforcement Division received eight complaints from different parents about the store selling vapor products to minors, seven were substantiated, and two in the previous three months had been completed by the licensee.
Another document includes three allegations of COVID-19 violations, with verbal warnings on two of the complaints.
When officers followed up on a complaint Oct. 1, they saw young people leaving the store, Graham told The Olympian. The officers asked if they had purchased any “age-restricted products,” Graham said, and they replied that they had and showed the officers their receipt.
When an investigator asked the store owner about the sale, according to Graham, the owner said he wasn’t going to give them the cash register tape, didn’t allow them to do an inspection, and asked them to leave.
Officers later got a call from one of the minors involved, who said the owner had asked via text message if they would help make a “phony video” that would show them coming into the store without making a purchase, according to Graham. The owner contacted the minor more than one time, Graham said.
The board suspended the store’s license, and officers went to the store to serve the suspension on Oct. 21, according to the release. But when they got there, the owner said he was no longer operating the business under Lochness — he had sold it to another person, and he was acting on the behalf of the new owner of Silver Lining, according to Graham.
As of Friday, a painted mural of a Loch Ness Monster smoking, with “Lochness Smoke Shop,” still adorned the side of the building, while a white sheet emblazoned with “Silver Lining” in what looked like hand-painted, black letters hung above the storefront.
It was a legal change of ownership, Graham said. “Bad actions” of previous owners aren’t assumed to carry over to the new business — they essentially “start fresh,” she said. But, in this case, LCB believed the same person was still in charge and the new owner also said she would not comply with the board’s request to inspect records and products on hand, according to Graham.
According to the press release, officers also found the store was in violation of COVID-19 related requirements during that Oct. 21 visit, and the state Department of Revenue reported that the business hadn’t paid any vapor product taxes.
Officers went back to the board with the new information, and they issued a new emergency suspension for Silver Lining, Graham said.
“Now both of those ownerships have emergency suspensions, though Lochness is actually closed,” Graham said in a phone call.
This story was originally published October 31, 2020 at 1:16 PM.
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