Blaine, MN Business Licensing & Operations: Tattoo & Body Modification (2026)

Blaine regulates tattoo and body-art businesses through zoning rather than through a dedicated business license. City Code § 100-2 defines 'tattoo parlors/shops' as any room or space where tattooing, described in the code as body art, or body piercing is performed, expressly carving out beauty salons and cosmetology businesses that do ear piercing or permanent cosmetics.

That definition matters most inside the Highway 65 Overlay District (HOD), created by § 125-51 to keep an attractive, unified image along the Highway 65 corridor. Under § 125-52, the HOD applies to every parcel zoned B-2 Community Commercial, B-3 Regional Commercial, B-4 Office Park, B-5 Town Commercial, PBD Planned Business District, I-1 Light Industrial, I-2 Heavy Industrial, R-3B Medium Density Multifamily or R-3C High Density Multifamily that sits within 750 feet of the Highway 65 right-of-way centerline; if only part of a parcel falls inside that band, the whole parcel is pulled in. Section 125-53 then lists eight uses barred from the district outright, tattoo parlors/shops among them, alongside carwashes, check-cashing and money-exchange outlets, outdoor boat and RV display, pawn shops, self-storage north of Highway 10, small equipment rental yards, and tobacco and vape shops.

Outside the HOD, a tattoo shop is not named as a prohibited, permitted or conditional use in any of the general commercial district sections reviewed, so it falls to the underlying B-district's general commercial use standards and the zoning administrator's application of § 100-2's rule that any use not expressly permitted is prohibited.