Owner of Cloud 9 hit with fine of more than $550,000 for failing to remove signage at Albany smoke shop store

The owner of Cloud 9, a well-known smoke shop, has been fined more than half a million dollars for failing to remove signage from their Albany store 281 days after it was directed to by the local government. Chop Chop Enterprises Pty Ltd, the body corporate for the Cloud 9, was sentenced in Albany Magistrates Court on Friday for failing to comply with a direction from the City of Albany. City prosecutor Anne Wood told the court that the signage, which was located on the store at the Dog Rock Shopping Centre on Middleton Road in Albany, was installed without development approval in August 2023. On August 25, 2023 city staff informed the store owner that the signage, consisting of the store logo with internal illumination, branding and paint on the building’s frontage, needed approval or would need to be removed within 65 days. A development application was lodged but was unsuccessful due to not enough information being provided and city concerns about the content and illumination of the signage itself. The signage remained in place for 281 days after the requirement for it to be removed on October 30, 2023 despite several in-person and written requests from the city, the court was told. Cloud 9 signage was finally taken down from the Albany store on August 6, 2024. They pleaded guilty to the criminal charge on January 29, 2025. Defence lawyer Guy Douglas argued his client had been offered poor legal advice and there was a level of confusion that they were still in negotiations about the signage, not recognising the request as an order from the city as an authority. “The sign was taken down the next day after (they) understood,” he said. “It was a misunderstanding rather than any wilful disobedience.” Mr Douglas argued the owner had already suffered a “catastrophic financial loss for the business” as they were still paying rent for the leased property but could not trade due to the store’s stock being in breach of city zoning requirements. Magistrate Erin O’Donnell acknowledged that the signage did not leave any damage to the building and was easily reversible and that the Chop Chop Enterprises Pty Ltd had no prior convictions and was of “good character”. She was sceptical however that the owner, who operates 38 Cloud 9 stores, would not have “some knowledge” of the appropriate course of conduct in setting up a new business. Ms O’Donnell handed Chop Chop Enterprises Pty Ltd a $30,000 fine for the offence and a further penalty of $526,875, which was a daily infringement across the 281 days the offence persisted for. Chop Chop Enterprises Pty Ltd was also ordered to pay court costs of $2415.30. The vape shop first opened on September 7, 2023 but ceased trading just six weeks later. The City of Albany issued a statement on October 20 stating that some of the store’s inventory, which includes smoking-related implements, breached planning regulations designated for a regional centre zone.