DuPage County, IL Business Licensing & Operations: Pawnbrokers (2026)

1, the roster of uses permitted by right in the B-2 General Business District, the county's district for 'a wider range of uses' serving 'a larger consumer population' than the smaller B-1 district. Because pawnshops sit on the permitted-use list rather than the conditional-use list, an operator does not need to petition the Zoning Board of Appeals or sit through a public hearing before opening in a B-2-zoned location. Pawnshops are not listed among the B-1 Local Business District's permitted or conditional uses, so a B-2 zoning designation is required.

Once operating, a pawnshop falls into Parking Category 6-2 of the off-street parking schedule at Section 37-1203, which requires four parking spaces for every 1,000 square feet of gross floor area, the same standard applied to antique shops, tattoo parlors and similar retail uses in that category. This is a county ordinance, so it reaches only unincorporated DuPage County; Naperville, Wheaton, Downers Grove, Elmhurst, Lombard, Glen Ellyn, Woodridge, Carol Stream and Bolingbrook each administer their own municipal zoning code inside city limits. Operating a pawnshop in a zoning district where it is not a listed use, or without meeting the parking standard, is enforced as a general zoning violation under Section 37-1417.