St. Charles tobacco shop fights to keep smoking area
Depending on the time of day, either the sun or a flat-screen television illuminates the clouds of rich cigar smoke puffed out from customers sitting on the deep brown leather couches and chairs at the Bull & Bear, a tobacco shop in St. Charles.
This haven for high-end tobacco fans has been in place since the shop opened in 1995 — long before smoking was banned at bars and restaurants a few years ago.
The Bull & Bear management wants to keep it this way, despite an assertion from its landlord, ShoDeen Management, that unpleasant odors are coming from the store and the smoke makes it unsanitary and, thus, violating the lease.
“We’re just asking the court to uphold our lease rights,” said Tracy Stevenson, attorney for the Gintanas LLC, which owns the shop. “The lease specifically allows us to smoke in the unit. We don’t feel this is a breach of the lease.”
In a lawsuit filed in Kane County this week, Stevenson cites a 1997 lease that explicitly states that smoking will be allowed “in and upon the premises” at 1 W. Illinois St., Suites 1110 and 120.
The suit, which asks a judge to rule on whether the lease has been violated, also notes numerous air filters, purifiers and ionization units, along with an exhaust vent, the tenant installed and maintains to minimize the odor.
The suit also seeks to have ShoDeen fix cracks in the walls or ceiling if smoke is seeping through to other areas.
The suit contends that ShoDeen told the Bull & Bear staff on Feb. 10 there were complaints of smoke emanating from the store and on Feb. 21, ShoDeen sent a notice, saying the tenant had 20 days to correct lease violations for “unpleasant odors” coming from the store.
Phone messages left at ShoDeen’s Geneva office and with its Chicago attorney were not returned.
Stevenson said ShoDeen has not responded to their efforts to resolve the situation so court was a last resort. Stevenson said her client recently renewed the lease through 2014.
Feedback from neighbors was mixed.
A woman who answered the phone at Illusions Hair and Nail Salon, which is next door to the tobacco shop, said customers complain all the time about the smell and one woman’s coat smelled so bad she thought it was hung next to a stylist who smokes.
“This is a huge issue,” said the stylist, who declined to give her name. A message left with the salon owner was not returned.
Kimberly Elam, owner of Kimmers Ice Cream, also at 1 W. Illinois St., said the smoke has not been an issue since she bought the ice cream shop four months ago.
The manager at Bistro One West, a restaurant in same building to the east, also said the smell is not a concern. Officials at ALE Solutions, which is in an office suite above the tobacco shop, declined to comment.