Arvada, CO Business Licensing & Operations: Pawnbrokers (2026)

Every pawnbroker, along with each manager, must be identified, photographed, and fingerprinted by the Arvada Police Department as part of the license application reviewed by the city clerk under § 22-203. The application carries a $1,000 nonrefundable fee to cover investigation costs (§ 22-204(a)), and the annual license itself costs $5,000 (§ 22-204(b)); the police department also bills licensees quarterly for state-required forms, due within 30 days. Before any license issues, the applicant must post a $50,000 cash or surety bond with the city under § 22-207, conditioned on compliance with all city and state pawnbroking laws.

Licenses expire December 31 each year and renew through the city clerk (§ 22-205). Under § 22-210, a pawnbroker must keep a computerized numerical register recording each customer's name, address, photograph, fingerprint, and ID number, the date and details of every transaction, and a signed ownership declaration; the register must be available to police at any reasonable time and kept for three years. Purchased or pawned goods must be held unaltered for 45 days before resale or disposal. , bars contracts with anyone under 18, limits interest to ten percent per year, and prohibits stacking same-day contracts to exceed what one contract would allow.

A change of manager must be reported within 30 days with a $500 investigation fee, and any ownership transfer requires a filed report and $250 fee within 30 days of the transfer (§§ 22-208, 22-209).