Amherst, NY Business Licensing & Operations: Massage Establishments (2026)

L. No. 9-2008, opens with a list of businesses that are 'specifically prohibited in the Town' outright rather than merely restricted to certain locations. The first item on that list is a massage parlor, studio, or other establishment operated by a person who lacks a New York State license as a massage therapist or as a medical practitioner. The prohibition sits alongside bans on sexually oriented encounter centers, video arcades, and unlicensed lingerie or nude modeling establishments, reflecting the Town Board's 2005 secondary-effects study, which found that unlicensed massage operations were frequently used as fronts for the sexually oriented businesses the article targets.

Because the rule is framed as an outright prohibition rather than a locational standard, a massage business cannot cure the problem by relocating or applying for a registration; the operator must hold a valid New York State massage therapist license (or be a licensed medical practitioner) before opening anywhere in the Town, outside the Village of Williamsville's own code. This makes state licensing, issued by the New York State Education Department under Article 155 of the Education Law, the threshold requirement for lawfully operating in Amherst, with the zoning code enforcing it as a use restriction rather than issuing a separate town massage license.