Tonawanda, NY Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)

Chapter 121, Junk, Sale of, adopted by the Town Board on July 15, 1974, defines 'junk, secondhand materials and used materials' broadly under § 121-1: junk of any kind, used or secondhand rags, paper, bottles, glassware, crockery, iron, brass, copper, clothing, furniture, used motor vehicles or parts, and any repaired, reconstructed or partly ruined merchandise. Under § 121-2, storage, sale, wrecking or dismantling of junk and salvage material is permitted only in the General Industrial District. Before doing business, § 121-3 requires a written verified application filed with the Town Clerk describing the business, the materials handled, and the exact address and ownership of the premises; a non-owner applicant must submit the owner's verified consent.

Existing licenses issued before the chapter took effect continue but renew under the new rules. Section 121-4 requires premises be kept clean and free of fire hazard and bars sorting or storing materials in any street or yard: everything must sit inside a building, a covered enclosure, or behind a solid fence or wall at least six feet high, built of new fire-resisting material, painted and set on the property line. Section 121-6 bars buying any listed material from anyone under 16 years old. Section 121-8 sets the license fee at $200 a year, expiring every December 31.

Section 121-9 lets the Town Board revoke or suspend a license at any time for failing to comply with the chapter or any related law. Section 121-5 exempts licensed new-or-used auto dealers who only occasionally take a trade-in for resale, but the exemption drops once a dealer wrecks or junks those vehicles. Under § 121-11, the chapter reaches everywhere in the town except the incorporated Village of Kenmore, which licenses separately.