Business Licensing & Operations in Tennessee (2026)

Chattanooga requires a city license, with background checks, fingerprints, and a criminal-history bar, to operate an…

No adult-oriented establishment, bookstore, cabaret, escort service or similar business can open in Clarksville without…

Franklin's zoning ordinance keeps adult-oriented establishments at least 500 feet from homes, schools, day cares…

Hendersonville zoning bars any adult-oriented establishment within 1,000 feet of another adult-oriented establishment…

Knox County requires every sexually oriented business and its employees to hold a county license under Sec. 50-29, with…

Knoxville bars sexually oriented businesses from locating within 1,000 feet of residential zones, schools, parks…

Memphis requires a police-issued permit before operating any sexually oriented business, adult bookstores, cabarets…

Murfreesboro bars sexually oriented adult businesses from operating within 1,000 feet of churches, daycares, libraries…

Metro requires a board-issued license before any sexually oriented business opens, and zoning confines these uses to an…

Unincorporated Rutherford County bars any adult entertainment activity within 1,000 feet of a residential or…

Sullivan County confines adult entertainment establishments to an Adult Entertainment Overlay District that can only…

Sumner County zoning bars adult entertainment activities within 2,000 feet of institutionally zoned land or community…

Williamson County zoning bars adult-oriented establishments within 1,000 feet of day cares, schools, parks, religious…

Chattanooga bars anyone from establishing, maintaining or operating a massage parlor without a permit from the city…

Clarksville requires two separate licenses for the massage business: a $35-a-year premises license for the…

Hamilton County zones massage parlors as adult-oriented establishments under Article VI, Section 411, restricting them…

Anyone operating a massage business in Knoxville needs a police-issued establishment license for each location, and…

Memphis requires anyone operating a massage institute, bathhouse, or working as a massage operator or bather to hold a…

Knox County requires anyone who owns, operates, or works as a tattoo artist to hold a permit from the local health…

Knoxville's zoning code classifies tattoo parlors, piercing studios, and non-medical body modification shops as Body…

Memphis requires anyone operating a tattoo establishment, or working as a tattoo operator or artist, to hold a health…

Tennessee regulates vapor product retailers under T.C.A. 39-17-1504 and related statutes, requiring age verification…

Franklin bars new vape shops from locating within 500 feet of homes, schools, day cares, funeral homes, civic uses, or…

Smoke shops need a Conditional Use permit in Hendersonville's General or Heavy Commercial zones, must sit 1,000 feet…

Memphis and Shelby County zoning bars new smoke shops from locating within 1,320 feet of any school, place of worship…

Metro's age-restricted-venue vaping ban carves out retail vapor product stores, shops that draw their largest sales…

Junk dealers, antique dealers and other secondhand-article buyers in Knoxville must register with and get a permit from…

Dealers buying used, antique, or scrap jewelry and precious metals for resale must register with the Murfreesboro…

Shelby County requires every dealer in secondhand automobiles, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles and their accessories to…

Chattanooga requires junkyards and junk shops to get a certificate of occupancy approved by city council vote, and…

Franklin requires anyone who buys or resells used jewelry, precious stones, or scrap metal to register with the police…

Memphis regulates secondhand dealers through mandatory daily police reporting: City Code § 6-68-3 requires every dealer…

Metro Nashville requires pawnbrokers, secondhand dealers, and junk dealers to hold every item purchased for 15 days…

Every Clarksville pawnbroker has to log the name, age, sex, and address of anyone they take goods from or lend money…

Knoxville pawnbrokers must hold pawned property at least 30 days past the transaction's maturity date, and purchased…

Metro Nashville requires a license before anyone can operate a pawnbroking business, plus a police-inspected register…

Chattanooga pawnbrokers must hold a valid Tennessee pawnbroker license displayed for police inspection, log every pawn…

Memphis requires every pawnbroker to hold the state license under T.C.A. § 45-6-102 before opening, per City Code §…

Knoxville's zoning code flatly prohibits motor vehicle repair and vehicle dispatch businesses as home occupations, so…

Metro Nashville's zoning code bars auto repair as a home occupation outright: repairing automobiles or other…

Franklin allows only an office for a mobile auto-detailing or maintenance provider as a home business: actual repair…

Rutherford County bans automobile and vehicle repair as a home-based business in unincorporated areas. Zoning Ordinance…

Sumner County bans automobile and vehicle repair as a by-right minor home-based business, but allows it in the…

Hendersonville lets a resident work on cars at home, but only under Zoning Ordinance Section 10.4.4's auto-hobbyist…

Wrecker companies that want police-called tows in Hendersonville must hold an Emergency Wrecker Service license, and…

Memphis lets a private property owner tow a vehicle without the driver's consent only if warning signage is posted at…

Murfreesboro requires every wrecker or towing service to hold a Chief of Police-issued license before operating in the…

Chattanooga caps non-consent tows from private property at $125 for vehicles under 7,000 pounds, requires signed…

Any wrecker service operating in Clarksville needs a permit from the chief of police, and non-consent tows off private…

Unincorporated Hamilton County zoning treats a wrecker or towing business as a conditional commercial use. In the C-2…

Knoxville bars non-consent tows from private lots unless the towing company follows Chapter 26's wrecker ordinance…

Private-property nonconsent towing in Nashville and Davidson County is capped at $155 for vehicles under 7,000 pounds…

Wrecker and towing operators can't work the roads of unincorporated Shelby County without a license from the county…