Memphis, TN Business Licensing & Operations: Pawnbrokers (2026)

Before operating, a pawnbroker must obtain the state license required by T.C.A. § 45-6-102, per City Code § 6-60-2; operating without it is unlawful in the city regardless of any local permit. Section 6-60-5 then fixes business hours: no earlier than 8:00 a.m. and no later than 6:00 p.m. from June through September, no later than 7:00 p.m. the rest of the year, extended to 9:00 p.m. on Saturdays during the last 15 days of December, with the shop closed all day every Sunday year-round.

Section 6-60-6 requires a sign reading only the owner's name and "Licensed Pawnbroker" over the entrance, with no other markings on the building front. Section 6-60-3 bars running any other business in the same building, and Section 6-60-4 bars a pawnbroker from ever purchasing property outright rather than taking it in pledge. Section 6-60-7 forbids taking pledges from a minor, an apparently intoxicated person, or a known thief without first notifying police, and Section 6-60-8 bans taking gambling devices or certain weapons, bowie knives, sword canes, slingshots, brass knuckles, as security, and makes mere possession of those items by a pawnbroker unlawful.

Section 6-60-10 requires a consecutively numbered transaction record with the pledgor's name, race, sex, birth date, address, ID number and right thumbprint, delivered to the chief of police by 10:00 a.m. daily. Section 6-60-12 bars selling or releasing pledged goods for 48 hours after that police delivery, and Section 6-60-13 caps interest at $6.00 per $100.00 loaned per year plus a service fee of no more than one percent per month. Section 6-60-14 gives a pledgor 50 days past maturity to redeem before the pawnbroker can mail a forfeiture notice and publish notice in a local newspaper, with a further ten days to redeem before title passes to the pawnbroker.