Dover Board of Health Suspends Dover Market Tobacco License for One Day

DOVER — May 13, 2026 — Dover Board of Health suspends Dover Market's tobacco license after failed compliance check and repeated non-response. The board voted 3-0 at its May 13 meeting to suspend Dover Market's tobacco sales license for one day, effective June 9, 2026, after a student operative purchased cigarettes there on April 29 without being asked for ID — a double violation of both the ID-check requirement and Dover's nicotine-free generation regulation, which bars tobacco sales to anyone born on or after January 1, 2005. Health Agent Jason Moran told the board he made three separate contact attempts before the hearing with no response, saying the pattern "tells me that they really don't care." The owner, Nirav, joined the Zoom hearing midway through after emailing for the link, told the board he opposed the generational tobacco rule and was exploring a legal challenge, and acknowledged employees had not previously been trained to check ID on a mandatory basis. Dover Mobile, the second establishment tested in the same April 29 compliance sweep, received only a warning after its manager appeared, accepted responsibility, and demonstrated that his point-of-sale system had already been reconfigured to block sales to buyers born after January 2005.