City investigators have busted nearly 200 bodegas and supermarkets for selling cigarettes to minors over the last two years.

Mayor Bloomberg yesterday released the names of the stores, which were caught as part of an undercover operation using teenage volunteers posing as customers looking to buy cigarettes.

“These businesses were all too willing to put cigarettes in the hands of our kids,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “In doing so, they not only broke the law, they opened the door to another child to become a lifelong smoker.”

The announcement is part of the larger crackdown on the tobacco industry that Mr. Bloomberg and the city’s health commissioner, Thomas Frieden, have been pursuing since they successfully convinced the City Council to ban smoking in restaurants and bars and impose higher taxes on cigarettes. Yesterday, Dr. Frieden did not rule out a move to raise the smoking age to 21 from 18. “It’s certainly something that should be looked at,” Dr. Frieden said. “We need to think about ways that we can further reduce smoking.” The chair of the City Council’s health committee, Joel Rivera, recently introduced a bill to raise the age.

The commissioner of the Department of Consumer Affairs, Jonathan Mintz, said the government can revoke a license after an establishment gets slapped with three “points.” That may not necessarily be three citations, as stores can get a break on points if its employees attend state training. Stores must wait a year before applying for a new license.

“Many stores have told us that their tobacco retail license is sometimes the lifeblood of their business,” Mr. Mintz said. “These are very serious consequences.”

Dr. Frieden said he “was not going to pass a law to make homes smoke-free.”

An employee at Space Market on University Place said the establishment had its license revoked last September. “They sent some people who looked like they were 30, at least 28, and they were underage. It’s not fair,” Jay Son said.