Seven Brookline retailers fined for selling tobacco to minors

The number of retailers in town that failed the annual tobacco compliance checks shot up this year, with seven establishments getting caught selling tobacco to minors in October.

Compliance rates in the Department of Public Health program fell from 95 percent last year to 80 percent this year during a check of all 31 tobacco retailers. There were also more than twice as many businesses that failed the compliance check, despite a considerable decrease in the number of businesses permitted to sell tobacco.

The retailers who sold to a minor were issued fines at the time of the infraction in the amount of $200, and must pay an additional surcharge fee for the next two years to renew their annual tobacco sales permit.