Business hours are
1-5 pm Monday through Friday.

New and existing peddlers, itinerant merchants, mobile food vendors, commercial solicitors, and massage businesses may submit the online business permit application, contact the City’s Collections Division at 336-373-2501 or visit the office from 1-5 pm Mondays through Fridays in Room 11, UG Level, Melvin Municipal Office Building, 300 W. Washington St., to obtain a business permit application and permit.

Why does the City require certain businesses to have a business permit?

Authorized by the NC General Assembly and the Greensboro City Council, this requirement helps City officials achieve several important objectives:

• To promote public health, safety, and welfare, and to continue to monitor business activity.
• To provide reliable information as to who is conducting or planning to conduct what kind of business at what location within Greensboro corporate limits. Equipped with this information, City officials are able to take steps to ensure that businesses locate and operate in areas that are properly zoned for the particular type of business conducted.
• To ensure businesses whose activities place special and concentrated demands on infrastructure and basic City services share more equitably in the cost of maintaining that infrastructure and those basic services.

Who must obtain a business permit?

Any individual, partnership or corporation who is a peddler, itinerant merchant, mobile food vendor, commercial solicitor or who operates a massage business that is physically located within Greensboro corporate limits is subject to the business permit requirements set forth in Chapter 13 of the Greensboro Code of Ordinances. The Code of Ordinances is available for public viewing or copying at the Collections Division, Room UG 11, in the Melvin Municipal Office Building, 300 W. Washington St., from 1 pm to 5 pm Mondays through Fridays. For assistance from a business permit specialist, call 336-373-2501.

What period does the annual business permit cover?

A business permit must be obtained no later than the first day of your business operation. Business Permits are issued for the period July 1 through June 30 and must be renewed no later than July 1 of each year.

What are the business permit fees and penalties?

There is no cost for the business permit nor are there any assessed penalties. However, the mobile food vendor permit is $50 annually.

Businesses that do not obtain the required business permit and follow the guidelines set forth in the Greensboro Code of Ordinance are at risk of having their business permit revoked and/or business closed.