Gretna, LA Business Licensing & Operations: Pawnbrokers (2026)

Chapter 46, Article II of the Gretna Code of Ordinances addresses pawnbrokers in a single section, and it is a flat prohibition rather than a licensing scheme. Sec. 46-19 states that the issuance of permits and licenses to operate pawnshops within the city is prohibited, and that no person shall operate or maintain a pawnshop in the city. Unlike the secondhand-dealer article next door in the same chapter, which builds out a full licensing, recordkeeping, and reporting structure for buying and reselling used goods, the pawnbroker article contains no application process, no bond requirement, and no fee schedule, because the underlying business is simply not allowed inside city limits.

The prohibition was adopted by Ord. No. 3002 on October 11, 1993, and was amended by Ord. No. 4264, Sec. X, on April 13, 2011, without softening the ban; both amendments are reflected in the current 1997 Code cross-reference, Sec. 78-35. State law authorizes pawnshops generally through the Louisiana Pawnshop Act, R.S. 37:1781 et seq., but Gretna's home-rule ordinance opts out of allowing them within its own boundaries, leaving pawnbroking to be conducted, if at all, elsewhere in Jefferson Parish or across the river rather than in the City of Gretna.

Because Chapter 46, Article II sets no article-specific fine, a violation of Sec. 46-19, operating or maintaining a pawnshop in the city, is punished under the citywide general penalty, Sec. 1-8: a fine of up to $500.00, with each day of continued operation running as a separate offense, and notice given under Sec. 2-1 before a hearing.