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

Sheboygan makes the license a condition of doing business: under § 94-126, no person can operate as a pawnbroker in the city until the person first obtains a pawnbroker license. Applicants file with the City Clerk on forms approved by the Police Department (§ 94-128). The form asks for the applicant's name, place and date of birth, residence address and the residence addresses for the ten-year period before the application, the business and the owner of the premises, the entity type and its officers, directors, partners or members, any convictions in the previous ten years, any other names used, and any denial, revocation or suspension of a pawnbroker license by another government. The Police Department then investigates the applicant and each agent, officer, member, partner, manager or proprietor and reports in writing to the Clerk (§ 94-129).

Under § 94-130 the Clerk grants the license when the applicant has no arrest or conviction record, subject to Wis. Stats. §§ 111.321, 111.322 and 111.335, and files the $2,500.00 bond. Section 94-155(a)(2), in the secondhand dealer division, prints a $500.00 bond figure for pawnbroker applicants, so the two sections do not match; the pawnbroker division's § 94-130 is the section quoted here. The license fee is $210.00, plus a billable transaction fee of $1.00 per transaction, billed monthly and due within 30 days of the billing date (§ 94-136). The license must be displayed in a conspicuous place visible to anyone entering the premises (§ 94-127).

Operating rules ride on the license. A licensee works only from the permanent place of business named in the license, with an off-site locked storage facility only if the chief of police or the chief's designee approves it in writing (§ 94-131(i)). Purchased or received items are held at least 30 days, a pledger gets at least 60 days to redeem, and a police investigative hold runs 15 days from notice (§ 94-131(d), (e), (f)). Every reportable transaction goes to the Police Department daily, except that a business without 200 reportable transactions in the past calendar year submits a written form on the next business day (§ 94-131(g)). Police can enter the premises and any off-site storage during normal business hours to inspect items and records (§ 94-103), and the Common Council can deny, suspend or revoke the license for fraud, misrepresentation or a false statement in the application, or for any violation of the chapter (§ 94-135).