Memphis, TN Home Business: Signage Rules (2026)

Section 2.7.4.B sets twelve standards a home occupation has to meet to keep the no-permit accessory-use status the Memphis and Shelby County Unified Development Code grants residential side businesses. Item 11 is the shortest and most absolute of them: 'No signage specifically associated with the home occupation shall be permitted.' Unlike the customer cap in item 9 or the 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. public-contact window in item 10, there is no partial allowance here; the standard does not distinguish between a small nameplate and a full business sign, any signage identifying the home occupation is barred outright.

That sits alongside item 2's broader rule that 'there shall be no change in the outside appearance of the building or premises, or other visible evidence of the conduct of a home occupation,' and item 5's ban on displaying products visible from the street. Read together, the three standards are the code's way of keeping a home occupation invisible from the curb, no sign, no altered facade, no storefront-style product display, so that a licensed home business (subject, per item 6, to all applicable licenses and business taxes) looks like an ordinary house from the street even while operating legally inside it.