Cleveland County, NC Business Licensing & Operations: Massage Establishments (2026)

Article II of Chapter 5 licenses masseurs, masseuses, massage parlors, health salons and physical culture studios operating in the unincorporated county, under Section 5-26; the article exempts licensed hospitals, nursing homes and the offices of licensed physicians, osteopaths and chiropractors. Before opening, an applicant files a written application with the board of commissioners under Section 5-57, listing the applicant's name and address (and, for a corporation, its officers), plus proof of the applicant's qualifications. Every applicant, and every corporate officer, must submit written recommendations proving good moral character, and every applicant and later-hired employee must furnish a health certificate from a medical doctor, filed with the sheriff's office.

If the county tax collector approves the paperwork under Section 5-58, it issues the business license. under Section 5-31. Section 5-32 bars treating a patient of the opposite sex without a signed physician's order limited to ten treatments, and Section 5-33 bars serving anyone under eighteen without a written physician's order, on pain of license revocation. The sheriff inspects licensed premises periodically under Section 5-29 and must be given the names, home addresses and phone numbers of every employee, updated within seven days of any change, under Section 5-30.

The board of commissioners can revoke a license after a hearing for violating the article or for a licensee's conviction of a crime of moral turpitude, with ten days' written notice by registered mail under Section 5-59. A general violation of the article carries a one-hundred-dollar civil penalty for each day it continues, under Section 5-28.