Albuquerque councilor pushes tighter spacing rules for smoke shops
New Albuquerque smoke-shop rules would force future stores 1,320 feet apart, matching tighter buffers already used for cannabis retailers.
Future smoke shops in Albuquerque could face some of the city’s strictest location rules, with Councilor Renée Grout’s Ordinance O-26-39 calling for 1,320 feet between stores. The proposal would also keep new smoke shops 660 feet from cannabis dispensaries and 330 feet from schools or child day care centers, a shift that could sharply narrow where businesses can open in busy commercial strips across Bernalillo County.
The comparison to cannabis retail is no accident. Albuquerque already requires cannabis retail locations to stay at least 300 feet from a school or child care facility and 660 feet from another cannabis retailer, a separation the city increased from 600 feet to 660 feet on Aug. 3, 2024. Cannabis businesses must also secure a state license and a separate city Cannabis Retail Location Approval, giving the city a framework it can point to as it considers whether smoke shops should be treated with similar zoning caution.
The proposal would reach beyond simple spacing. New smoke shops would be barred from designated Main Street corridors and live-work dwellings, could not use drive-through windows, and would have to keep paraphernalia out of view within 5 feet of a window or door. Shops within 500 feet of a residential zone or a residence in a mixed-use district would also be restricted from customer visits or deliveries between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. On corridors such as Central Avenue and San Pedro, including areas near the University of New Mexico, those rules could make it harder for smoke shops to cluster in the kind of strip malls Grout has singled out as a problem.
The measure was scheduled for a June 10 hearing before the Land Use, Planning and Zoning Committee, with public sign-up closing at 3:30 p.m. that day and testimony limited to two minutes. The ordinance would apply only to future dedicated smoke shops, leaving existing stores, grocery stores and gas stations untouched, which means the biggest changes would come when new tenants try to enter the market. The City of Albuquerque has already moved against unregulated intoxicating hemp products sold in smoke shops, gas stations and online, signaling that the council is trying to draw a harder line around retail that can affect neighborhood character, public exposure and enforcement consistency.
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