Fitchburg, WI Business Licensing & Operations: Pawnbrokers (2026)

City Code Chapter 66 covers pawnbrokers together with secondhand article and jewelry dealers, but Sec. 66-25 adds pawnbroker-specific conditions the city council must find satisfied before granting a license: the applicant, and any partner, member, manager or corporate officer, must have no disqualifying arrest or conviction record subject to Wis. 00 with at least two sureties for observance of all municipal, state and federal law relating to pawnbrokers. All zoning approvals must also be obtained for the site, and the license runs from January 1 through the following December 31 and cannot be transferred to another party or location.

Sec. 66-56 sets the redemption period distinct from the general secondhand holding rule: anyone pledging or pawning an item gets a minimum of 60 days from the transaction date to redeem it before the pawnbroker may forfeit and sell it, and during that 60-day window the item cannot be removed from the licensed location. Pawnbrokers may release a pledged item only to the person named on the receipt, someone named in a notarized authorization, a person the pledger identified in writing at the time of the transaction, or with police department approval.

Sec. 66-53 requires the pawn ticket record to capture the maturity date, amount due and both the monthly and annual interest rates and all pawn fees charged, and Sec. 66-58 requires pawnbrokers, unlike casual secondhand sellers, to submit every reportable transaction to the police department daily through the electronic reporting system, paying a billable transaction fee for each report.