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

Under Granville County Code Section 8-31, anyone who wants to work as a masseur or masseuse, or operate a massage parlor, health salon, physical culture studio or club in unincorporated Granville County, must file a written license application with the board of commissioners before starting business. Hospitals, licensed medical clinics and offices of physicians, chiropractors and osteopaths are exempt. Applicants must submit written recommendations proving good moral character and a medical doctor's health certificate, which corporate applicants must also provide for every officer, agent or employee performing massage; the sheriff's department keeps a copy of every application and certificate.

Once the board approves an application, the county tax collector issues the business license. Licensees must file employee names, home addresses, phone numbers and workplaces with the sheriff's department, updating changes within seven days, and must keep accurate treatment records open to sheriff's department inspection at any time. Businesses may operate only between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. Treating a patient of the opposite sex requires a dated, signed order from a licensed physician, osteopath, chiropractor or registered physical therapist specifying the number of treatments, capped at ten, and that order must be filed and available for sheriff's department inspection; the rule does not apply to treatments given in a patient's home or a licensed medical office.

Patrons under 18 may not use a licensed massage establishment unless they carry a physician's written treatment order, and operators must verify age or risk revocation. Grounds for revoking a license include failing any duty under the section, violating any provision, a licensee's conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude, or operating in a way that creates a nuisance to public health, safety or morals; the sheriff's department submits a written revocation recommendation and the board holds a hearing after ten days' registered-mail notice, at which the licensee may appear, present evidence and be represented by counsel.