Alexandria, VA Business Licensing & Operations: Massage Establishments (2026)

2 of Title 11, 'Massage Regulations,' does not create a business license for massage parlors; instead it restricts who may lawfully touch a client for compensation anywhere in the city. Sec. 2-2 makes it unlawful to provide or administer a massage except by three categories of provider: a therapist certified and in good standing with the Virginia Board of Nursing; staff working at a hospital, nursing home, medical clinic, or the office of a licensed physician, surgeon, physical therapist, chiropractor or osteopath; or barbershop and beauty salon employees, who may massage only the scalp, face, neck or shoulders.

Sec. 2-3 layers additional prohibitions onto any compensated massage: it is unlawful to touch, fondle or massage a client's sexual or genital parts, to expose sexual or genital parts for compensation, or, as a client, to fail to keep those areas covered with a fully opaque covering while receiving a massage. The same section holds an owner, operator or manager of a massage location criminally liable if they knowingly allow an employee or other person under their control to commit any of those acts on the premises.

2 governs the underlying legality of providing massage rather than issuing a storefront permit, an operator opening a massage business in Alexandria must confirm every practitioner on staff falls into one of the three lawful categories in Sec. 2-2(b); there is no separate 'massage establishment' license application through the city.