Starbucks Anti-Smoking Ban Snuffed Out in Great Neck

Beginning Saturday, smokers will be prohibited from lighting up within 25 feet of a large number of Starbucks stores.

But the company rule is unenforceable in Great Neck Plaza.

Hoping to promote a sense of responsibility to provide all customers with a safe and healthy environment, the Starbucks policy change applies to all Canadian and the U.S. stores, according to company spokesperson Jamie Riley.

The coffee giant's current smoking policy allows customers to light up outside as long as they are not on the store’s patio.

The intent of the new ban is to restrict smoking within Starbucks' property within 25 feet of stores, if local law allows, according to Riley.  

But according to village code, smoking is permitted on sidewalks along Middle Neck Road, including the area in front of Starbucks. 

"Whatever the law is, we will comply," said Riley.

Great Neck Plaza Mayor Jean Celender, who sponsored a failed village sidewalk smoking ban in recent years, supports Starbucks' decision to discourage people from smoking.

"I'm in favor of that if they can encourage it," said Celender. 

But if people decide to smoke on the sidewalk at the store location at 71 Middle Neck Rd, "we can't do anything about it," Celender said.

Under the rule, smoking would be outlawed in the rear patio section of the Great Neck Plaza Starbucks, which is under the jurisdiction of the company. 

Also included in the Starbucks ban is electronic cigarettes, which use water vapor.

A resolution introduced by Celender to ban sidewalk smoking failed to gain the support of the Village of Great Neck Plaza Board of Trustees on the grounds that the law would be unenforceable, according to the mayor.

Just up street, the Village of Great Neck disallows smoking on sidewalks outside of businesses along Middle Neck Road, according to a resolution which passed in 2011.

Tell us: What do you think of the new Starbucks smoking policy?