Business Licensing & Operations in Pennsylvania (2026)

Pottstown confines adult entertainment businesses to the HM Heavy Manufacturing zoning district and keeps them at least…

Allentown's zoning ordinance treats adult bookstores, adult theaters, and cabarets as a special-exception commercial…

Erie's zoning ordinance keeps adult bookstores, adult theaters and massage parlors at least 750 feet from each other…

Sexually oriented establishments in Penn Hills must sit at least 1,000 feet from another such business, 400 feet from…

Philadelphia zones adult cabarets, adult bookstores, adult theaters and similar businesses as "regulated uses" that…

Pittsburgh zones adult entertainment businesses at least 1,000 feet apart from each other and 500 feet from schools…

Reading confines sexually oriented businesses to HM Heavy Manufacturing zoning and bars them within 1,000 feet of…

Bucks County requires every massage or alternative therapy business to register with and be licensed by the County…

Philadelphia requires an operator's license from Licenses and Inspections for anyone working as a masseur or masseuse…

Pittsburgh's zoning code classifies massage establishments as an Adult Entertainment use, requiring a license from the…

A massage therapy center in Pottstown is a conditional use under the zoning code, and every therapist must hold a valid…

Reading requires anyone who acts as a massage therapist to hold a City permit issued by the Health Officer under…

Philadelphia bars tattoo, piercing and body art shops from serving minors without parental consent and requires Board…

Pottstown zones tattoo, piercing, branding, and scarification services as "Personal Care Business - B." The use is…

Reading requires a City health permit before any tattoo, body piercing, or body art establishment can operate, with…

Scranton zoning defines a tattoo parlor broadly enough to cover cosmetic tattooing and permits the use by right in four…

Pennsylvania regulates electronic cigarettes and vape products under Act 84 of 2016, imposing a 40 percent wholesale…

Hookah bars and lounges in Penn Hills need a 1,200-foot buffer from schools, churches, parks and other hookah lounges…

A vape shop, smoke shop or tobacco store can open in Pottstown only as a Special Exception use in the Highway Business…

Upper Darby treats any store devoting 15% or more of retail floor space to tobacco or vaping products as a smoke shop…

Philadelphia requires every tobacco retailer to hold a Tobacco Retailer Permit, one per fixed location, renewed…

Pittsburgh zoning treats smoke, vape, and CBD shops as a 'Retail: Tobacco, Inhalant, and Cannabinoids' use, barring…

Allentown Code § 430-3 requires secondhand dealers to hold an annual $100 permit from the Bureau of Police, with…

Penn Hills requires antique and secondhand dealers to get a license from the License Officer, file a sworn police…

Pittsburgh requires a License Officer permit before buying and selling secondhand goods or antiques, with mandatory…

Scranton requires anyone buying scrap gold, jewelry, electronics, tools, firearms, and other secondhand goods to hold a…

Junk and secondhand-material dealers in Philadelphia must license, photo-ID sellers, and keep two years of transaction…

Every pawnbroker, junk dealer and secondhand-goods dealer in Reading must deliver a daily written report of all items…

Allentown Code § 430-2 bars anyone from operating as a pawnbroker without an annual permit from the Bureau of Police…

Pawnbrokers need a separate L&I license per location, plus state licensure, and must follow strict hours and holding…

Pittsburgh requires anyone lending on pledged goods to hold a pawnbroker license, keep a daily transaction log, and…

No one may run a pawnbroker business in Pottstown without a license issued under Chapter 13, Sections 301(B) and 601 of…

Bethlehem pawnbrokers, jewelers, and any merchant taking in second-hand jewelry, coins, precious metals, or goods must…

Erie doesn't license pawnshops through a separate permit process, it makes them report to police instead. Codified…

Reading levies an annual $400 municipal license tax on every pawnbroker operating in the city, collected by the Finance…

Allentown's home-occupation rules flatly prohibit any assembly, cleaning, maintenance, painting, or repair of vehicles…

Erie's zoning use tables list 'Auto repair shop' as a permitted use only in the M-1 Light Manufacturing and M-2 Heavy…

Pittsburgh's zoning code specifically bans auto and other vehicle repair as a home occupation, so residents cannot…

Pottstown's zoning code flatly excludes vehicle and boat repair or painting shops from the home occupation rules…

Running an auto repair business from a house in Reading isn't allowed as a home occupation: the zoning code's…

Upper Darby flatly prohibits vehicle repair as a home occupation. It is one of twelve uses listed in § 550-41C that…

Philadelphia's Zoning Code caps home occupations to six named categories: offices, licensed health practitioners…

Scranton zoning caps vehicle work on residential property to minor maintenance only: oil and fluid changes, wiper…

Tow operators pulling cars off private property in Allentown must be city-registered, carry $1 million liability…

Penn Hills only dispatches private tow companies under Council contract, and each contractor must post a $10,000 bond…

Licensed towing companies need written property-owner permission and posted signage before towing an unauthorized…

Any tow business or operator doing non-consensual (trespass) tows in Pittsburgh must hold a City Tow Business License…

Chapter 15, Part 7 of the Pottstown Borough Code limits removal and impoundment of illegally parked vehicles to Class I…

Any towing company that tows vehicles at Scranton's request must hold an annual public towing license under City Code…

Bethlehem's Police Commissioner and Parking Authority order non-consent tows of illegally parked vehicles and of…

Any wrecker service pulling a vehicle off private property in Erie without the owner's consent must phone the Bureau of…

In Franklin Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, only township-approved storage garages may tow and store vehicles…

Reading caps what a private towing company can charge to remove an unauthorized vehicle from posted private property…