Decatur, AL Business Licensing & Operations: Pawnbrokers (2026)

Item (53) of the license schedule in § 14-38 of the Code of Decatur, Alabama, covers each person, firm or corporation engaged in business as a pawnbroker or title loan licensee and duly licensed by the State of Alabama as such. The city license costs $350 plus one-twentieth of one percent of gross annual receipts. The schedule does not cover the business of selling or renting items that are not taken out of pawn; a separate license schedule applies to those activities. Because chapter 14 requires a business or privilege license before anyone engages in business inside the corporate limits (§ 14-2), the city license comes on top of the state license, not in place of it.

The license mechanics sit in the same article. Section 14-30 requires payment of the scheduled amount plus an issuance fee before the business opens, the license is signed by the city clerk and states the business name, schedule, location and validity period, and it is not transferable. License taxes are due January 1 and become delinquent on or after February 1 (§ 14-31). If a business fits more than one classification, the highest license tax applies (§ 14-32), and under § 14-34 the revenue department can inspect the premises and demand books of account, invoices, bank statements, sales and use tax records and tax returns to check the classification and amount.

Zoning decides where the shop can sit. In the B-2 General Business district, the Deferred Presentment Services Act, Pawnshop Act and Dealers in Gold or Precious Items Act businesses are permitted uses only where a 1,500-foot separation exists between the closest property boundary of the lot and the closest boundary of any other lot holding a business licensed under those Acts, with one of each type allowed on the same legal lot when the city approves it under the Subdivision Regulations. The B-1 Local Shopping District and the B-5 Central Business District list businesses licensed under the Pawnshop Act among their prohibited uses.