NSW Health is proving it is not blowing smoke with new tobacco and vape control laws, as two more Dee Why tobacconists were given 90-day closures for illicit tobacco sales this week.
NSW Health officials issued closure notices on Monday 2 March, to Dee Why Express convenience located at 846 Pittwater Road as well as at Dee Why Mart Tobacco Station on 21 Oaks Avenue; making the latter the third tobacconist closure on the street in a week with both Ginger Cat Mart, and Dee Why Nepalese Indian and asian Grocery store, just down the road, hit with the same fate.
Uncle Jack’s Convenience Store, located at 701 Pittwater Road, Dee Why, also had a yellow closure sign slapped to its window on 12 February 2026, tallying up the total to five stores in the suburb closed due to illicit tobacco sales in just under a month.
Stores handed closures can expect a three-month cease of sales order and can be fined upwards of $137,000, or dealt imprisonment if they are caught continuing to sell products from closed premises.
The raids are part of a wider crackdown on the sale of illicit tobacco and vaping products, with 105 stores around the state issued similar closures since new laws strengthening control efforts on the substances came into effect in November last year.
In the past ten days, 30 stores were temporarily shut down for associations with illegal tobacco or vape sales, with Dee Why accounting for five of them.
Approximately 700,000 illicit cigarettes and 3,900 illicit vapes were seized by NSW Health inspectors while implementing the recent Closure Orders, with NSW Minister for Health, Ryan Park, warning retailers that the State’s new laws are no joke.
“The recent closures should serve as a reminder for those people in the community who are doing the wrong thing that we are serious, and they will be prosecuted,” Minister Park said in a statement.
“Our Inspectors actively monitor retailers, and if we find that you are continuing to sell these illicit products after being served a closure order, we will shut you down again, and you will face further penalties.”
