Business Licensing & Operations in Michigan (2026)

Clinton Township confines adult use businesses to the B-3 General Business District and bars them within 1,000 feet of…

Dearborn's Zoning Ordinance lists adult entertainment establishments as a regulated use, blocking a second one within…

Detroit requires a Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department license for every sexually-oriented…

Group A adult businesses in the City of Flint need Planning Commission approval and cannot locate within 1,000 feet of…

Grand Rapids confines adult bookstores, cabarets, theaters, and model studios to zones where they're specifically…

Lansing zones adult businesses away from each other and from housing, schools, and worship. Zoning Code § 1250.02.09(c)…

Livonia confines adult businesses to the C-3 commercial district as a waiver use under Zoning Ordinance Section 6.01…

Adult entertainment uses need special approval in Sterling Heights and must sit in a C-2 shopping center, 1,000 feet…

Troy requires an annual license from the City Clerk before operating any adult arcade, bookstore, cabaret, motel…

Warren licenses sexually oriented businesses under Code Chapter 6, Article X and confines them by zoning distance rule…

Adult businesses in the City of Wyoming, Michigan, need a city adult business license and must sit at least 500 feet…

Any Westland establishment selling sexually explicit books, videos or magazines must shield them from public view, keep…

Clinton Township requires anyone who owns or operates a massage establishment, including a massage school, to hold a…

Dearborn zoning treats massage parlors as a regulated adult use: operators must get zoning administrator approval and…

Every massage facility and massage school in Detroit must obtain an annual license from the Buildings, Safety…

Farmington Hills requires a city-issued massage therapy establishment license for every separate office or place of…

The City of Flint treats massage establishments as a Group A special regulated use: opening one requires Planning…

Operating a massage or bath establishment in Lansing, Michigan requires a health club license from the City Clerk…

Sterling Heights caps massage establishment licenses citywide at 18 active at once, and operating a massage…

Troy Code Chapter 98-A requires every massage facility, from independent studios to spas offering massage incidentally…

Warren requires a city clerk-issued license to operate a massage or spa establishment, on top of the state massage…

Westland requires a separate city clerk license for every massage establishment location, plus state-licensed…

Massage businesses in Grand Rapids must employ only Michigan-licensed massage therapists, display each therapist's…

Livonia does not run its own massage-establishment licensing scheme; instead it requires every person providing massage…

Operating a massage establishment in the City of Wyoming, Michigan, requires a city license under Sec. 14-61, on top of…

Detroit requires a license from the Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department before any tattoo…

Flint classifies tattoo establishments as a Group B special regulated use, needing Planning Commission approval and…

Sterling Heights requires every body art facility, meaning any location offering tattooing, branding, or body piercing…

Warren requires anyone operating a tattoo establishment to hold a city clerk license under Chapter 36, pass inspection…

Wayne County requires an annual Health Department permit to run any body art establishment, tattooing, piercing…

Westland's zoning ordinance classifies tattoo artist establishments as a personal service use, permitted by right in…

Clinton Township's Zoning Code defines a "body art studio" as any business that inserts pigment under the skin or…

Michigan regulates retail sale of vapor products and alternative nicotine products under the Youth Tobacco Act, MCL…

Selling cigarettes, cigars, tobacco, vapor products or alternative nicotine products in Dearborn requires a $500 annual…

Any hookah, vape or tobacco lounge operating in Farmington Hills needs a smoking lounge license under City Code § 8-45…

Westland bars new retail tobacco, hookah and vape shops from locating within 500 feet of any place of worship, school…

Ann Arbor bars retailers from selling e-cigarettes to anyone under 21 and requires vape sellers to post a specific…

Detroit zones vape and e-cigarette shops as "tobacco retail stores," a conditional use that needs a Board of Zoning…

Retailers in Sterling Heights must keep vapor and alternative nicotine products behind the counter or in a locked case…

The City of Wyoming, Michigan, has no license specific to tobacco or vape shops: a retailer must hold the citywide…

Bay County requires secondhand dealers, buyers and sellers of used goods like electronics, tools, jewelry and precious…

Clinton Township requires anyone operating a secondhand dealer business to hold a Township license issued under Chapter…

Buying or reselling secondhand jewelry, silverware, or gold, silver, and platinum items in Dearborn requires a city…

Anyone dealing in junk or operating a junkyard in Farmington Hills needs a license under City Code § 23-46, approved by…

Anyone buying, selling, or exchanging secondhand goods in the City of Flint is a licensed secondhand or junk dealer…

Buying, selling, storing or exchanging secondhand goods as a business in Lansing, Michigan requires a City Clerk…

Livonia bars anyone who buys, stores or resells used merchandise from opening for business without a police-issued…

Sterling Heights requires pawnshops, junk dealers, auto wreckers, and other secondhand merchants to register with the…

Detroit requires anyone buying, selling, or exchanging secondhand goods at a store, shop, or flea market to hold a used…

Grand Rapids secondhand and junk dealers need a city license and must fingerprint sellers, tag goods, and report daily…

Troy requires every dealer in precious metal, gems and jewelry to register with the City before opening, keep detailed…

Warren requires a city clerk-issued license before anyone operates as an automotive recycler, scrap processor…

Westland requires anyone dealing in secondhand goods or junk to obtain a city clerk license, submit fingerprints, and…

Secondhand and junk dealers in the City of Wyoming, Michigan (Kent County) need both a city general business license…

Bay County licenses pawnbrokers operating outside cities and villages of more than 3,000 people, such as the City of…

Clinton Township requires every pawnbroker, secondhand dealer and junk dealer to hold a Township business license…

Detroit requires anyone operating a pawnshop to get a license from the Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental…

Pawnbrokers operating in the City of Flint must pay a license application fee, secure a City-issued license, and comply…

A Lansing, Michigan secondhand dealer who takes items as pledge or pawn, or loans money against an item as security…

Livonia requires anyone engaging in the pawnbroker business to obtain a city license certified by the police and fire…

Sterling Heights requires every pawnbroker operating in the city to hold a license issued by the City Clerk under Code…

Warren bars anyone from operating a pawnshop without a city clerk license, backed by two $1,500 sureties, a criminal…

Grand Rapids pawnbrokers must hold a city license, post a $6,000 bond, and follow strict recordkeeping and stolen-goods…

Westland treats pawnbrokers as secondhand dealers requiring a city clerk license, and lets police place up to 90-day…

A pawnbroker operating in the City of Wyoming, Michigan (Kent County) needs both a city general business license and a…

Clinton Township effectively bars home-based auto repair businesses. Section 1118.02(m) requires any home occupation to…

Livonia does not allow auto repair as a home business. Zoning Ordinance Section 6.06 confines automobile and…

Troy's zoning code lists vehicle repair stations as NP, not permitted, in every residential district: R-1A through…

Westland's zoning ordinance flatly excludes vehicle repair or painting from the home-occupation category, so residents…

Dearborn's Zoning Ordinance lets a homeowner use a private garage for minor vehicle repairs or hobbies, but bars any…

Detroit bans engine repair and vehicle assembly as a home business in every residential district; incidental repairs…

Grand Rapids lets residents repair their own vehicles at home in any residential zone district, but only one vehicle at…

Lansing lets residents fix their own vehicle in a home accessory structure, but the job must wrap up within 24 hours…

Sterling Heights allows only minor auto repair as an accessory home use in its one-family districts. Zoning Ordinance…

Wyoming, Michigan lets residents work on their own vehicles at home, but Sec. 90-314(1) of the zoning code limits it…

Ann Arbor requires that any non-consent tow of a trespassing vehicle from private property be done only by a towing…

Dearborn tow operators need the vehicle owner's consent or police authorization to pull a car off a public street, and…

Flint bars wreckers from towing a vehicle off a public street or private property without the owner's consent or police…

Livonia caps what any towing company can charge to tow a car off private property without the owner's permission: the…

Warren requires every wrecker owner to hold a city clerk license under Chapter 37, Article III before towing vehicles…

Private-property tow companies in Detroit need the owner's authorization and Police Department approval before hooking…