GREENFIELD — After having its tobacco license revoked by the Board of Health for four tobacco sales violations within 36 months, Country Mart is considering taking legal action against the City of Greenfield.

Wahab Minhas, son of owner Muhammad Hamayun, alleges Greenfield Health Director Michael Theroux has been unfairly targeting the family business for the same violations found at other stores in the city.

“We feel like we’re being targeted,” said Minhas, who is also a city councilor. “Last year [Theroux] came in and harassed me and there was an incident of racial discrimination. He came in yelling and screaming, saying he’d put me out of business because I asked him about the logistics of everything. He said you people shouldn’t be in business and it’s an honor for your kind to do business here.”

Minhas said he filed a complaint against Theroux which the city “swept under the rug.” He accused Theroux of having Country Mart’s license revoked as retaliation for the complaint. The store is located at 49 Main St.

Attempts to reach Theroux for comment Thursday and Friday were unsuccessful.

During a public hearing on Wednesday, Board of Health members voted unanimously to revoke the license, stating that Country Mart had plenty of warning and ample time to make changes to policy and train staff on what products are legal to sell in Massachusetts and how to ID minors. The store had received fines in 2022 and 2023 for selling tobacco products to minors, and in July 2024 was fined for selling flavored tobacco products.

Most recently, in January, the Board of Health fined Country Mart $5,000 and suspended the license for 30 days after Greenfield Public Health Nurse Megan Tudryn found more flavored tobacco products in the store during an inspection in September. The board agreed to meet again to discuss permanently revoking the license.

“There’s actually been multiple opportunities to correct the issue and it sounds like that issue has not been corrected over and over again,” said board member Dr. Darius Greenbacher

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Board members said Country Mart has been fined and warned multiple times and should know the regulations relating to tobacco in Massachusetts.

“If you’re thinking about the importance of tobacco in your business, then it’s essential that you know the laws and regulations and are going to abide by them,” Greenbacher continued. “I think at this point Country Mart is showing a pattern of inappropriate behavior with tobacco.”

Board member Ellis Taylor said that had it just been a couple of cases of employees not knowing when to ask a customer for identification, he would be more amenable to just giving the business a warning. But the store also had been caught selling flavored electronic cigarettes, which are illegal in Massachusetts.

“If it were just mistakes by employees not being educated on carding appropriately, I could see, yeah, maybe second chances. But we are looking at purposely going out of our way to get something that we shouldn’t have,” Taylor said.

Minhas said convenience stores like Country Mart rely on tobacco sales and losing the license will put them out of business. He said it was unfair as plenty of other businesses in the area sell the same products Country Mart does.

“A bunch of these locations also had similar violations and none of them were ever taken to this extent where their license was just revoked and their business put up in flames,” Minhas said. “Some of them didn’t even get a fine; they were just given a 30-day suspension.”

He said the store needs to be able to sell tobacco products to stay competitive with the other businesses in the city and he will be suing Theroux and the city for discrimination.

“We’re gonna take legal action because it’s just too much,” Minhas said. “It’s just taking away our bread and butter.”

Reach Madison Schofield at 413-930-4579 or mschofield@recorder.com

An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified speakers during the Board of Health meeting. Dr Greenbacher said businesses that sell tobacco should know the regulations for doing do and Ellis Taylor said the violation did not warrant a second chance.