[Adopted 2-26-1981 by Ord. No. 6-1981; amended in its entirety 11-4-1998 by Ord. No. 65-1998]
For the purposes of this article, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
BUSINESS
Includes businesses, trades, callings, professions and vocations.
CONCESSION
Includes businesses which sell to the public on a temporary basis, such time period being defined as 14 days or less.
LICENSED MERCANTILE BUSINESS OWNER (LMBO)
Includes any person who engages in or carries on any business in the City of Atlantic City; any person who sells any goods or services for a fee; or any person who is required to obtain a license in order to operate a business within the City of Atlantic City.
PERSON
Includes persons, firms, partnerships, corporations, associations and registered agents as set forth in § 194-1C of the Atlantic City Code.
[Amended 9-22-1999 by Ord. No. 39-1999]
[Amended 9-22-1999 by Ord. No. 39-1999]
No person shall engage in or carry on any business in the City of Atlantic City, nor aid or assist as employee, clerk or otherwise in carrying on such business, or in using any wagon, vehicle, stand, store or other place or thing, nor sell or offer for sale any goods or thing for which a license is required by the terms of this article unless a license as herein provided for shall have been first obtained therefor. This mercantile license must be displayed prominently and posted in a conspicuous place within public view.
Application for license shall be made to the Director of the Mercantile Licensing Division of Atlantic City, New Jersey, and no license shall be granted until the payment for the same shall have been made. Every license shall specify by name the person to whom it shall be issued, the business for which it is granted and the location at which such business is to be carried on.
A. 
All license fees shall be due and payable to the City Cashier at its office in the City Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey, on or before the first day of August in each year, and all such licenses shall expire on the 31st day of July of the subsequent year, except that licenses for the distribution of commercial handbills as required by § 173-11C shall expire on October 31 of each year with renewal fees due therefor by November 1.
[Amended 11-29-2006 by Ord. No. 84-2006]
B. 
The license fee shall be due prior to the issuance of said mercantile license. In addition to the license fee, there is required an application fee of $25. In the event that the application requires the approval of the Division of Health, said application fee shall be $40. Application fees shall be nonrefundable.
C. 
All mercantile fees for renewing of a current mercantile license are due on or before the expiration of the current license with the exception of the automatic amusement games controlled by the State Commissioner as mentioned above. In the event that the mercantile fees for renewals are not paid within 30 days of the date due, there shall be assessed a penalty of $25 and $10 for each thirty-day period thereafter that the fees are not paid. Further, the business or enterprise for which the mercantile fee had not been paid in a timely fashion shall be subject to closure.
[Amended 4-20-2016 by Ord. No. 20-2016]
A. 
The license fees to be paid annually as above provided to the City of Atlantic City for conducting the businesses herein named at the places to be designated in the license certificate issued therefor, or in using any wagon, vehicle, stand, store or place or service or for the sale of any goods or thing, or for the type of service hereinafter designated, shall be as follows:
[Amended 3-8-2006 by Ord. No. 15-2006; 9-20-2006 by Ord. No. 69-2006; 4-20-2016 by Ord. No. 20-2016; 4-17-2024 by Ord. No. 17-2024]
Business/Service
Fee
Licensed mercantile business owner (LMBO)
$200
Concessions
$100
Coin-operated machines, each, excluding laundromats
$50
Non-casino hotel, motel, lodging house
Each sleeping room
$3
Each food or beverage outlet operated by hotel licensee
$100
Each non-food/-beverage outlet operated by hotel licensee
$75
(All food, beverage or retail outlets in a hotel that are not operated by the same entity as the licensed operator of the hotel shall require a separate mercantile license.)
Meeting rooms, with seating capacity (chairs, benches or seats)
Up to 50 persons
$50
For each seating space over 50 persons, extra
$2
Up to a total but not in excess of
$300
Phrenology, physiognomy, palmistry, reader advisor, astrologer or the like
$500
Fee for issuing identification cards
$10
Fee for issuing replacement of any identification card
$15
B. 
The organizer of any event in the City of Atlantic City at which the authorization of multiple vendors is required on a temporary basis at a designated location shall apply for a multiple vendor license (formerly known as a "flea market license").
[Amended 8-8-2012 by Ord. No. 52-2012; 5-8-2013 by Ord. No. 26-2013; 3-8-2017 by Ord. No. 4-2017]
(1) 
Those applying for a multiple vendor license (MVL) shall pay a fee in accordance with the following schedule or such other City fee as City Council, by resolution, has designated as part of a license agreement or otherwise for a particular event.
Number of Vendors
Licensing Fee
2 to 5
$250
6 to 10
$500
11 to 25
$1,000
Over 25
$1,000 plus $40 per each vendor over 25
(2) 
This license shall permit those vendors listed on the approved application to vend lawful wares at the designated location for up to seven days or for such longer period if the event to which the vendor is a part has been approved by a special events permit issued by the City. If the MLV is issued for an event approved by a special events permit, the duration of the MVL shall be coterminous with the special events permit.
(3) 
Under this license, a fine shall be assessed to the multiple vendor licensee of $500 for each vendor not included in the application found to be operating at said MVL event and/or designated location.
C. 
A casino hotel duly licensed by the Casino Control Commission of the State of New Jersey, operating within the jurisdiction of the City of Atlantic City, shall pay an annual fee which shall include within it licensing of any and all services, retail establishments, amusements, rooms and parking facilities operated directly by the casino hotel and located within the casino hotel property or within or upon a facility contiguous thereto but shall not include any services, retail establishments, amusements, rooms and parking facilities or other operation operated either wholly or partly off of the casino hotel site. Said annual fee shall be in an amount equal to $10 per hotel room, plus $2 per hotel parking space.
[Amended 3-8-2006 by Ord. No. 15-2006; 4-20-2016 by Ord. No. 20-2016]
(1) 
"Hotel room" shall be equal to the number of rooms on site and made available to the public for overnight accommodation.
(2) 
"Parking spaces" shall be equal to the number of parking spaces on site, either within an appurtenant freestanding garage, an attached garage or a surface parking facility contiguous to the casino hotel. All parking spaces separate and apart from the casino hotel site, i.e., not contiguous to the footprint of the primary casino hotel, shall be subject to separate parking mercantile license fees as established elsewhere in this article.
D. 
Fresh fruits and vegetables vending license.
[Added 4-22-2009 by Ord. No. 21-2009]
(1) 
Notwithstanding ordinances to the contrary adopted by the City of Atlantic City, any person lawfully operating a vehicle for purposes of selling fresh fruits and vegetables shall pay a fee of $100. No food vendor issued a fresh fruits and vegetables license shall vend any food other than fresh fruits and vegetables from the vehicle. The Director of the Mercantile Licensing Division, or his or her designee, shall establish standards relating to the size and design of such vehicles. No vendor shall vend from other than a vehicle approved by the Director of the Mercantile Licensing Division.
[Amended 4-20-2016 by Ord. No. 20-2016]
(2) 
"Fresh fruits and vegetables" are defined as unprocessed, unfrozen and fresh raw fruits and vegetables that have not been combined with other ingredients and commercially wrapped in packages. The Director of the Mercantile Licensing Division may issue up to a maximum of six fresh fruits and vegetables licenses. No person shall be issued more than one license.
[Amended 8-8-2012 by Ord. No. 52-2012]
A. 
No license certificate shall be issued to any person who has not complied with the laws of the State of New Jersey or the ordinances of the City of Atlantic City providing regulations respecting the safety of persons who may have occasion to use the premises, place or thing licensed, and in case any person licensed fails to comply with such laws or ordinances after due notice and opportunity to be heard, as provided by N.J.S.A. 40:52-2, the Director of Licenses may revoke such license. No license provided by this article shall be transferred from one person to another person, and no license shall cover any other place of business than that for which it was issued.
B. 
An approved inspection for a certificate of occupancy (CO) or continuing certificates of occupancy (CCO inspections) shall be required and shall be a condition to the issuance of a mercantile business license when a new business is established in a location in which there was not a previously existing business. Additionally, when there is a change in the interior structure or building layout at an existing business location, an approved CCO inspection shall be required prior at the time of renewal of a mercantile business license.
[Amended 4-17-2024 by Ord. No. 17-2024]
C. 
Any structure which is registered with the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs under the Multiple Dwelling Act[1] that is changing ownership shall be required to submit a copy of a current certificate of compliance issued by the state in lieu of the required continued certificate of occupancy.
[Amended 4-17-2024 by Ord. No. 17-2024]
[1]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 55:13A-1 et seq.
The fees herein provided for are imposed for revenue under the provisions of N.J.S.A. 40:52-2 and the determinations under that section of the statute by the appellate courts of the State of New Jersey.
A. 
The license to peddle or to sell any goods, wares, merchandise or food shall not permit the peddling or vending of such articles upon any City street or sidewalk, nor upon the beach, the Boardwalk, the approaches thereto or upon any platforms, nor shall there be any hanging, displaying or attaching of goods or merchandise to the exterior walls of any premises, windows, doorways and so forth. No goods or merchandise shall be placed upon or intrude into the air space above any sidewalks or the Boardwalk. There must be maintained at all times an unobstructed entryway, at least three feet in width, for the ingress and egress of persons to the premises.
B. 
No goods, wares, merchandise, food, flowers, candy or beverages shall be sold from any automatic vending machine which does not contain thereon, by way of decal or some other permanent mechanism, the name, address and telephone number of the one to contact in the event that the vending machine malfunctions or for any other reason that a customer or passerby may wish to contact concerning the operation of said machine. Further, no automatic vending machine company or distributor shall install, place or connect within the City of Atlantic City any automatic vending machine until such time that a mercantile license is issued for said machine and the appropriate fees are paid. Notwithstanding the foregoing, for good cause shown, the Atlantic City Board of Education or any governmental entity operating within the boundaries of the City of Atlantic City may apply to either the Director of Licensing and Inspections or City Council for an exemption from payment of fees for vending machines, provided that such funds are used to further the purposes of the Board or entity and the City or the entity can inspect and provide for the health and safety of the machines and all items sold in said machines.
[Amended 4-20-2005 by Ord. No. 31-2005; 1-27-2010 by Ord. No. 03-2010]
C. 
Garage sales.
[Added 9-22-1999 by Ord. No. 39-1999]
(1) 
A person shall not be permitted to conduct a garage or lawn sale more than three times per year, each sale not to exceed three days in duration, except that persons shall be permitted to conduct garage or lawn sales once per week from the period beginning Memorial Day through Labor Day, each sale not to exceed three days in duration.
[Amended 5-21-2014 by Ord. No. 22-2014]
(2) 
Garage sales conducted in multiple-dwelling buildings shall be organized through the owner and/or registered agent if the structure is an apartment building; or through the association if the structure is a condominium or townhouse.
[1]
Editor's Note: See also Ch. 145, Hawkers, Peddlers and Vendors.
[Amended 9-19-2007 by Ord. No. 75-2007]
It shall be a condition to the issuance of any and all licenses under this article that said business shall be used and operated only for lawful purposes and be in compliance with all applicable laws.
[Amended 11-25-2008 by Ord. No. 104-2008]
Any person violating any of the provisions of this article shall, upon conviction in the Municipal Court of the City of Atlantic City, be punished for each offense by a fine not to exceed $2,000 or by imprisonment for any term not exceeding 90 days in the county jail, or in any place provided by the municipality for the detention of prisoners, or both, in the discretion of the Municipal Judge.
[Amended 1-27-2010 by Ord. No. 03-2010]
Every person conducting a business required to be licensed hereby shall permit the Department of Licensing and Inspections or its accredited agents or assistants to have access to any building or premises for the purpose of ascertaining whether there has been compliance with the provisions of this article and other ordinances and to determine the fees to be paid, and any refusal thereof shall be deemed a violation of this article and be subject to the penalties.