Business Licensing & Operations in Tempe, AZ (2026)
8 verified business licensing & operations rules for Tempe, Arizona, sourced directly from the municipal code and official government pages.
Verified from official government sources
Adult Entertainment
Tempe requires every adult-oriented business, from adult retail stores and cabarets to video arcades, motels, theaters and nude model studios, to hold a license from the City's Licensing Officer, and confines them to the GID and HID zoning districts at least 1,320 feet from schools, churches, libraries, playgrounds, liquor bars and residential districts.
Tempe Adult Business License and Spacing Rule
Significant RestrictionsTempe City Code § 16A-133(a)
Adult-oriented businesses are allowed in the GID and HID zoning districts. No adult-oriented business shall be operated or maintained within one thousand three hundred twenty (1,320) feet from the defined provisions located in paragraphs (1) through (7) below. Measurements shall be made in a straight line in all directions, without regard to intervening structures or objects, from the nearest p...
Massage Establishments
Tempe requires a City license to operate a massage establishment, sets minimum facility standards for lighting, ventilation and separate dressing areas, bans services between midnight and 6:00 a.m., and makes it unlawful to touch a client's genitals or administer massage for sexual gratification.
Tempe Massage Establishment License Rules
Significant RestrictionsTempe City Code § 16A-165(a)(5), § 16A-166(e), (i)
(a)No massage establishment license shall be issued unless the establishment complies with each and all of the following minimum requirements:...(5)Adequate dressing and toilet facilities shall be provided for patrons. A minimum of one (1) dressing area, one (1) toilet and one (1) wash basin shall be provided for each massage establishment; provided, however, that if male and female patrons are...
Tattoo & Body Modification
Tempe tattoo and body piercing shops need a Use Permit and must clear strict distance buffers: 1,320 feet from another tattoo or piercing shop, and 500 feet from any residential district or K-12 school. Zoning and Development Code Section 3-424 sets both the spacing and sanitation requirements.
Tempe Tattoo Shop Separation Rules
Significant RestrictionsTempe Zoning and Development Code § 3-424(A)
A.Separation Requirements.1.Tattoo, body piercing establishments shall not be located on a lot within one thousand three hundred twenty (1,320) feet, measured by a straight line in any direction, from the lot line of another tattoo shop or body piercing establishment.2.Tattoo, body piercing establishments shall not be located on a lot within five hundred (500) feet, measured by a straight line ...
Tobacco Retail License
Every store that sells cigarettes, vape products, or other tobacco items in Tempe needs an annual $300 tobacco sales license from the Tax and License Division before making a single sale. City Code Section 16A-248 requires the license and mandatory retailer training, and Section 16A-253 escalates penalties up to license revocation for repeat underage-sale violations.
Tempe Tobacco and Vape Retail License Rules
Significant RestrictionsTempe City Code §§ 16A-248, 16A-250
Sec. 16A-248(a): No person or tobacco sales establishment may sell tobacco products without a valid tobacco sales license. Upon receipt of a license, the license shall be displayed at all times at the tobacco sales establishment location. Sec. 16A-250(a): The application for a tobacco sales license shall be submitted with a licensing fee of three hundred dollars ($300.00). The fees shall be use...
Secondhand Dealers
Tempe requires anyone buying, selling or trading secondhand goods, jewelry or precious metals to hold an annual license from the Financial Services Director. Automated buyback kiosks are exempt from the definition entirely, while licensed shops must report most transactions to police and hold items 20 days before resale.
Tempe Secondhand Dealer License Rules
Significant RestrictionsTempe City Code §§ 16A-1, 16A-26(a)
Secondhand dealer means any person(s) engaged in conducting, managing or carrying on the business of buying, selling, trading or exchanging, or otherwise dealing in secondhand goods, wares, merchandise or articles, coins, jewelry, precious metals, semiprecious stones and similar items, whether such business is the principal or sole business so carried on, managed or conducted or is merely incid...
Pawnbrokers
Tempe requires anyone operating as a pawnbroker to hold an annual license from the Financial Services Director, backed by a Police Chief background check and fingerprinting. Pawned items must be reported to police within 24 hours and held 20 days before resale, though redemptions by the original owner are exempt from that holding period.
Tempe Pawnbroker License Rules
Significant RestrictionsTempe City Code §§ 16A-1, 16A-26(a)
Pawnbrokers means any person engaged in conducting, managing or carrying on the business of pawnbroking, or the business of loaning money for themselves or for any other person, receiving as security for the repayment thereof, pawns or pledges of personal property, or the business of purchasing personal property and reselling or agreeing to resell such articles to vendors, their personal repres...
Auto Repair on Residential Property
Tempe's home occupation rule flatly excludes motor vehicle repair from the businesses a resident may run out of a house. Zoning and Development Code Section 3-412(B)(7) names 'motor vehicle repairing' among the handful of uses a home occupation can never include, so a driveway or garage repair shop is a zoning violation regardless of licensing.
Tempe Bars Home-Based Auto Repair
Heavy RestrictionsTempe Zoning and Development Code § 3-412(B)(7)
A home occupation shall not include the sale of commodities on premises nor the following: clubs, commercial stables, veterinary offices, hospitals, hotels, motels, kennels, restaurants, motor vehicle repairing, massage parlors, and any use that does not conform to the provisions in Section 3-412.
Towing Companies
Private towing carriers who tow vehicles from Tempe private property without the owner's consent must have written permission from the property owner or a law enforcement request under Section 32-5, notify police before towing, and charge no more than the fees Council sets by resolution. Violating the consent rule carries a $250 to $1,000 civil fine.
Tempe Non-Consent Towing Rules
Significant RestrictionsTempe City Code § 32-5
(a)It shall be unlawful for a private towing carrier to tow or transport a motor vehicle from private property or immobilize a vehicle on private property without the permission of the owner or operator of the vehicle unless such private towing carrier receives a request from a law enforcement agency or the express written permission from the owner of the property or the agent of the owner, who...
Looking for Maricopa County county-wide rules?
County ordinances apply to unincorporated areas and may supplement Tempe city rules.
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