Glendale, AZ Business Licensing & Operations: Tattoo & Body Modification (2026)
Key Facts
- Studio spacing
- 1,000 ft from other tattoo/piercing studios
- Other spacing uses
- 1,000 ft from pawn shops, liquor stores
- Adult business buffer
- 1,000 ft from adult businesses
- Downtown ban
- Prohibited in all 4 Centerline Overlay areas
Summary
Glendale's zoning code keeps tattoo and piercing studios 1,000 feet from each other, pawn shops, liquor stores and adult businesses, and bans them outright in all four downtown Centerline Overlay character areas regardless of that spacing.
CC.Tattoo and Piercing Studio1.Use shall not be located within one thousand (1,000) feet of another Tattoo or Piercing Studio, a Pawn Shop or Non-Chartered/Non-Traditional Financial Institution, Liquor Store, or Adult Business.
[35.8.003, Use Standard Definitions] Tattoo and Piercing Studio: An establishment that produces an indelible mark or figure on the human body by scarring or inserting pigment under the skin using needles, scalpels, or other related equipment.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 115).
Full Breakdown
003 as an establishment that produces an indelible mark or figure on the human body by scarring or inserting pigment under the skin using needles, scalpels or other related equipment. That use cannot locate within 1,000 feet of another Tattoo or Piercing Studio, a Pawn Shop, a Non-Chartered or Non-Traditional Financial Institution, a Liquor Store, or an Adult Business. 1008 lists Tattoo Parlors as prohibited, marked 'X', in all four Centerline character areas, Midtown, Beet Sugar, Historic Downtown and Market, alongside halfway houses and hookah lounges.
A property owner inside the Centerline Overlay boundary, bounded by Myrtle Avenue, 43rd Avenue, Ocotillo Road and 67th Avenue, therefore cannot open a tattoo studio even at a site that clears the 1,000-foot spacing test, unless the owner opts the property out of the Overlay and develops instead under the site's underlying, non-Centerline zoning district, where tattoo studios remain permitted subject only to the spacing rule.
Violations & Fines
Opening a tattoo or piercing studio within 1,000 feet of another studio, a pawn shop, liquor store or adult business, or operating one anywhere inside the Glendale Centerline Overlay boundary where the use table marks it prohibited, is a zoning violation subject to the Code's general Class 1 misdemeanor penalty under Section 1-7, with continued operation charged as a new offense each day.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I open a tattoo studio next to a liquor store in Glendale?
Are tattoo studios allowed in downtown Glendale?
What businesses trigger the tattoo studio spacing requirement?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Glendale
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