Business Licensing & Operations in Missouri (2026)

Boone County zoning confines a 'Sexually Oriented Business', adult cabarets, theaters, video arcades, bathhouses…

Adult entertainment establishments in unincorporated Cass County need a special use permit and must sit at least 2,640…

Columbia, Missouri's zoning code keeps indoor adult entertainment and adult retail businesses at least 1,000 feet from…

Florissant does not allow adult entertainment businesses by right anywhere in the city. They can locate only in the…

Unincorporated Greene County limits adult entertainment facilities to C-2, M-1, and M-2 zones, requiring 1,000-foot…

Independence bars adult businesses within 1,200 feet of a school, church, park, or home, and within 1,000 feet of…

Adult entertainment businesses in unincorporated Jackson County must hold a county license, and every employee must…

Jefferson County confines sexually oriented businesses to the PI planned industrial district and requires 1,000-foot…

Kansas City requires a $500 annual license to run an adult entertainment or adult live entertainment business, plus…

Lee's Summit requires a City license before operating an adult business under Code of Ordinances Chapter 3, and the…

O'Fallon zoning caps sexually oriented businesses at one per 1,000-foot radius and requires a 1,000-foot buffer from…

Springfield confines adult motion picture theaters, adult stores, and cabarets to seven commercial and industrial…

St. Charles County allows sexually oriented businesses only in I1 Light Industrial and I2 Heavy Industrial districts…

St. Louis bans adult bookstores, adult theaters, peep shows and massage establishments within 500 feet of residential…

St. Louis County keeps adult businesses 1,000 feet from churches, schools, libraries, parks, and other adult uses, and…

Boone County zoning confines massage parlors to the M-L Light Industrial District as a conditional use, and excludes…

Independence requires anyone operating a massage establishment or bath house to hold an annually renewed License…

Jefferson County's Unified Development Order requires anyone who performs massage for compensation to hold a business…

Kansas City requires a Bureau of Liquor Control license to operate a massage shop and a separate $10 permit for every…

Massage businesses in Kirkwood must hold a City license under Code § 13-91, pass a Building Commissioner inspection…

Massage therapists and massage facilities in Lee's Summit both need a separate business license from the Director of…

O'Fallon requires a City Clerk permit before operating a massage establishment or outcall massage service. Section…

Anyone operating a massage establishment or outcall service in unincorporated St. Louis County needs a permit from the…

Florissant requires anyone who establishes, maintains or operates a massage business to hold a city license under…

Springfield, Missouri licenses individual massage practitioners rather than businesses: anyone who practices massage…

Massage establishments in St. Louis must hold a city business license, employ only Missouri-licensed therapists, comply…

Independence bars anyone from operating a tattoo or body piercing business without a City License Officer occupation…

Jefferson County's UDO lists "Tattoo parlor/permanent cosmetic services/body piercing studio" as a single Table 5-1…

Kansas City bans tattooing anyone under 18 outright and allows body piercing of a minor only with the parent or…

O'Fallon zones tattoo and body piercing establishments as a conditional use under Section 400.330(A)(5), keeping them…

St. Charles County requires anyone performing tattooing or body piercing in the unincorporated county to hold both an…

St. Louis tattoo parlors need a Board of Public Service license, a public hearing, and fixed 9 a.m.-to-1 a.m. hours…

Columbia, Missouri requires every tattoo shop to hold a health department permit, renewed each December 31, before…

Kirkwood zoning requires a tattoo studio to sit at least 1,000 feet from any other tattoo studio and caps its…

St. Louis County requires a $100 annual permit from the Director of Health before any establishment can tattoo or…

Missouri regulates tobacco, alternative nicotine, and vapor product sales under RSMo 407.925 to 407.934. The effective…

Florissant requires a retail sales tax license to sell cigarettes, tobacco, alternative nicotine or vapor products, and…

Vape and e-cigarette shops fall under Independence's 'tobacco store' zoning category, which requires a conditional use…

Columbia, Missouri requires a separate tobacco retailer license, covering vapor and alternative nicotine products too…

Kansas City's citywide vapor-use law bans vaping indoors in any workplace or public place, including retail stores, but…

Kirkwood requires anyone selling cigarettes, tobacco products, alternative nicotine products or vapor products to hold…

Lee's Summit bans selling tobacco, alternative nicotine or vapor products to anyone under 21, requires retailers to…

O'Fallon Code Section 215.640 bars anyone from selling cigarettes or tobacco products in the city without a retail…

Springfield requires every retailer of tobacco, alternative nicotine, or vapor products to hold an annual city permit…

A St. Louis store only counts as a 'retail tobacco store' if smoking materials are more than 50% of its trade: that…

Unincorporated St. Louis County requires anyone selling tobacco products or electronic smoking devices, including vapes…

Junk dealers and junkyards in Columbia, Missouri must hold a city license from the business license administrator…

Kansas City requires a Director of Finance license, $5,000 bond, seller ID and fingerprint records, and a 10-day…

Kirkwood requires every purchaser, collector or dealer in junk, scrap metal or secondhand property to keep a written or…

Lee's Summit requires anyone who buys secondhand precious metals or gems to get a City business license before making a…

Florissant requires every purchaser, collector or dealer in junk, scrap metal, catalytic converters or secondhand…

Independence requires junk and secondhand dealers to keep a numbered, ink-only register of every item bought or sold…

Springfield requires every secondhand dealer -- flea market merchants, coin dealers, junk dealers and more -- to keep a…

Every secondhand dealer, pawnbroker, gun dealer, auction house, antiques dealer, coin dealer or jewelry dealer in…

Secondhand dealers, scrap-metal buyers, and resale shops in St. Louis must hold a city license, log seller ID for every…

St. Louis County requires every junk dealer, scrap-metal processor, auto parts dealer and person dealing in secondhand…

Florissant requires every pawnshop to hold a license from the Director of Finance under Section 605.407, backed by a…

Independence requires every pawnshop to hold a City-issued license backed by $50,000 in net assets, liability…

Unincorporated Jackson County allows pawnshops only as a conditional use in LB and GB zoning districts, with mandatory…

Lee's Summit requires every pawnshop operator to hold a City business license plus a separate pawnbroker license under…

O'Fallon requires every pawnshop to hold a City license before lending against or buying pledged goods. Section 607.100…

Springfield, Missouri requires pawnbrokers to hold a city occupational license -- a $500 investigation fee for a new…

St. Louis requires pawnbrokers to obtain a City license and post a $1,000 bond, bars pledge or pawn transactions…

Anyone running a pawnshop in unincorporated St. Louis County must hold a Director of Revenue pawnbroker license, capped…

Columbia, Missouri requires anyone loaning money against personal property, or buying it with an option to resell, to…

Kansas City requires a director-of-finance license for every pawnshop location, backed by a $5,000 bond, a $50,000…

Pawnbrokers in unincorporated St. Charles County must give every borrower a written receipt under § 255.030 disclosing…

Unincorporated Greene County bars auto repair as a home occupation in residential districts, even though many other…

Unincorporated Jackson County's zoning code specifically prohibits running a vehicle sales, service, or repair business…

Kansas City bans vehicle and engine repair as a home occupation in residential districts, no matter how minor or…

Springfield, Missouri's Land Development Code expressly excludes auto repairing and painting from the list of permitted…

Running an automobile, truck or vehicle repair shop out of a home is flatly prohibited in unincorporated St. Charles…

St. Louis flatly bans auto repair and paint shops as a home occupation: no waiver, no conditional-use path around it.

Boone County zoning lists 'automobile repair shop' as a permitted use only in the C-G General Commercial District: it's…

Running an auto repair operation from a Florissant home is squeezed from two directions: the home-occupation zoning…

Kirkwood bans motor vehicle repair work of any kind, except emergency repairs, in off-street parking and driveway areas…

Tow operators in St. Louis must hold a city license, register each truck and driver with SLMPD, post regulated rates…

Independence bars tow operators from moving or towing a vehicle from a street or public property without the owner's…

Jefferson County lets law enforcement or county officials authorize a towing company to remove abandoned vehicles from…

Every tow truck operating in Kirkwood needs a City license under § 13-264, unless it already carries a valid St. Louis…

Springfield police may never steer a stranded driver to a particular tow company; the owner chooses, or the officer…

St. Charles County requires every towing business to hold a Chief of Police license issued through the Registrar before…

Every tow truck operating in unincorporated St. Louis County needs a $35 annual license from the Director of Licenses…

Anyone running a wrecker or tow service business in unincorporated Cass County must hold a valid county license under…

Clay County requires every wrecker or tow service operating in the county, or doing more than half its business there…

Columbia, Missouri requires motor vehicle wrecker service businesses storing more than fifteen vehicles next to…

Chapter 395 defines a 'towing company' as any person or entity that tows, removes or stores abandoned property, and…

Any wrecker or tow service operating within Jackson County, Missouri must hold a county tow license and a paid personal…

Kansas City tow companies can't remove a vehicle from private property without a sign posted at every entrance for at…

A towing company may only remove a vehicle from private property without police authorization if the owner, lessee, or…