[HISTORY: Adopted by the North Wildwood City Council 6-4-1954 by Ord. No. 360. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Amended 5-5-1993 by Ord. No. 1149]
No person, persons, partnership, association or corporation shall engage in or carry on the selling, consigning or renting of any goods or service, including the rental of sleeping accommodations, and the rental of all other real property, in the City of North Wildwood, County of Cape May, New Jersey, unless a license as hereinafter provided for shall have been first obtained.
[Amended 5-5-1993 by Ord. No. 1149]
Application for a license to conduct a business shall be made to the Clerk of the City of North Wildwood, Cape May County, New Jersey. The application for a mercantile license will include a consent to the inspection of the property upon which the licensed activity is to be conducted, said inspection to be for the limited purpose of ascertaining whether or not the subject property complies with the applicable provisions of the Code of the City of North Wildwood relating to physical condition of properties.
[Amended 4-4-2000 by Ord. No. 1349; 3-21-2006 by Ord. No. 1493]
All mercantile licenses under this chapter shall be due and payable on or before the first day of May of each year, and the license year shall commence on June 1 of each year and terminate and become invalid on May 31 of the next succeeding year. If the license fees are not paid by May 31, a late fee equal to 18% of the fee, but not less than $25, shall be assessed.
[Amended 4-21-1964 by Ord. No. 455; 2-2-1971 by Ord. No. 558; 5-20-1975 by Ord. No. 647; 4-3-1979 by Ord. No.732; 5-5-1981 by Ord. No. 786; 2-3-1987 by Ord. No. 946; 3-19-1991 by Ord. No. 1084; 5-5-1993 by Ord. No. 1149; 6-5-1997 by Ord. No. 1262; 4-9-1998 by Ord. No. 1287; 5-19-1998 by Ord. No. 1291; 5-7-2002 by Ord. No. 1401; 3-4-2003 by Ord. No. 1432; 11-1-2016 by Ord. No. 1706; 12-19-2017 by Ord. No. 1735; 10-17-2023 by Ord. No. 1917; at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
The annual license fees to be paid to the City of North Wildwood, Cape May County, New Jersey, for conducting the business of selling goods, services or a combination thereof, shall read as follows:
Type of Business
Fee
Amusement arcades (nonredemption) where coin-operated amusement machines are operated
Up to 25 machines or player capacity
$400
Over 25 machines, per machine
$5
Amusement ride/kiddie ride machines, coin-operated
Up to 5 machines
$75
Over 5 machines, per machine
$5
Amusements:
Kiddie rides
$175
All others
$400
Auction stores and places where goods are regularly sold at auction
$1,500
Auctioneers selling real estate (per occasion)
$500
Automobile sales agency or showroom or place for sale of new cars and service parts and accessories, including gasoline and oil, each location
$500
Automobile service stations
$250
Barbershop/beauty parlor retail sales
$75
Bathhouses and/or lockers:
$100
Beach stand contract for the rental of beach chairs, umbrellas, flotation devices and cabanas; sunscreen application and sunscreen products
$600
Bicycle rental stands, each stand
$300
Bowling alleys, each alley
$30
Boxing, wrestling or other commercial sports, outdoors or indoors, in addition to any other license fees provided for (where admission is charged)
$350
Coin-operated amusement, music or photo vending machines; pool tables
$75
Coin-operated food/drink or newspaper vending machines
$30
Coin-operated vending machines:
Non-electrically coin-operated vending machines dispensing merchandise
Up to 10 machines on a single stand
$100
Up to 4 additional machines on a single stand
$10
Dance halls, in addition to any other license fees provided for
$250
Dry cleaners and/or launderers, each location
$150
Exhibitions, in addition to any other license fees provided for when admission is charged
$500
Greenhouses and/or nurseries
$275
Food stores:
1,000 square feet or less in area
$125
1,001 to 10,000 square feet in area
$250
Over 10,000 square feet in area
$1,000
Garbage, trash or junk collector, each truck or motor vehicle
$125
Horse or pony rides:
Each stand or track, including up to 10 horses or ponies
$150
Over 10 horses or ponies, each horse or pony
$5
Laundromats
Up to 25 machines, per machine
$4
Over 25 machines, per machine
$8
Lumberyard, mill and store
$550
Marina:
40 slips or under
$150
Over 40slips
$300
Miniature golf course
$150
Parking lot:
40 spaces or under
$100
Over 40 spaces
$200
Peddlers, hawkers and vendors on public beach
$575
Peddlers of fruit and produce, each vehicle
$150
Phrenology and horoscopes
$350
Pool tables, in addition to any other license fees provided for, each
$60
Rental of real property
$50
Restaurants, lunch stands, luncheonettes and walk-ups (seating capacity):
0-40
$125
41-100
$200
101-250
$275
251-600
$350
601 and over
$700
Retail mercantile store, department store or display room, where merchandise is displayed or sold at retail:
1,000 square feet or less of floor space
$200
Over 1,000 square feet of floor space
$300
For each additional 100 square feet of floor space or part thereof
$16
Scissors grinder
$25
Shoe repair stores
$100
Shooting gallery, in addition to any other license fees provided for
$150
Sleeping rooms (pursuant to Chapter 344 of the City Code)
$8
Soliciting photographers (prohibited from operating on Boardwalk, beach, public parks or playgrounds), each camera
$300
Tailors and/or seamstresses
$100
Theaters
$900
Upholsterer
$100
Water park
$400
All businesses not classified
$200
All licenses issued to peddlers and hawkers are expressly restricted, prohibiting said peddling or hawking to the streets, avenues and ways of the said City carrying both vehicles and pedestrian traffic. The holders of said licenses are expressly forbidden any right to peddle or hawk upon the bathing beach or Boardwalk, or approaches to said beach or Boardwalk.
[Added 8-20-1968 by Ord. No. 524]
The number of auction galleries or stores conducting auctions within the City of North Wildwood, pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall be limited to one.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See also Ch. 130, Auction Houses and Sales.
[Added 2-2-1971 by Ord. No. 558; amended 7-20-1971 by Ord. No. 571; 5-20-1975 by Ord. No. 647]
A. 
The number of mercantile licenses to be issued for bicycle rental businesses shall hereafter be limited to nine.
B. 
The holder of any license issued hereunder shall have the right to renew same if application is made on or before June 30 in the year of renewal. In the event that no application for renewal is made, as aforesaid, there will be no automatic right of renewal of the license.
[Amended 3-7-1995 by Ord. No. 1199]
[Amended 11-5-2025 by Ord. No. 1988]
The sale of hermit crabs shall be permitted in the Boardwalk and Pier Zoning Districts subject to the operator providing proof of possessing an animal exhibitors license and a wholesale animal dealer license.
[Amended 11-5-2025 by Ord. No. 1988]
No business shall be permitted at the location licensed other than that for which the said license is issued. Licenses under this chapter shall be posted at the place of business shown on said license in a conspicuous place. Said license shall remain posted for the duration of the licensing year when issued and so long as the licensed business is carried on.
The issuance of a license under this chapter is in addition to and not in derogation of any law of the State of New Jersey or ordinance of the said City of North Wildwood regulating said business so licensed. Failure to comply with said regulations set out in said laws or ordinances shall be cause for revocation of said license by the Mayor and Council of said City by due notice and hearing.
That the proper enforcement of the provisions of this chapter and related ordinances dealing with the regulation of businesses shall be a proper concern of the Police Department of said City.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
BUSINESS
Includes any activity offering goods, services or combination thereof for sale, rent or other payment. However, the term "business," for the purpose of this chapter only, shall not be construed to include any business licensed and regulated by the state, such as the businesses of doctors, lawyers, pharmacists, electricians, plumbers, locksmiths, alarm businesses and hospitals, to mention a few, except that real estate auctioneers and real estate brokers auctioning property in their businesses shall be considered as businesses for the purpose of this chapter.
[Amended 8-5-1997 by Ord. No. 1266; 2-15-2000 by Ord. No. 1343]
PERSON
Includes any person, persons, firms, associations, copartnerships and corporations.
[Amended 5-5-1993 by Ord. No. 1149]
The fee set forth above for a license to engage in a classified business of sleeping rooms or the classified business of rental of real property[1] shall be inclusive of all fees imposed for the inspection of said property to determine whether or not said property complies with the applicable property maintenance codes in the City of North Wildwood.[2]
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 344, Rental of Property.
[2]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 228, Existing Structures.
[Amended 5-5-1993 by Ord. No. 1149; 12-16-2014 by Ord. No. 1664]
No mercantile license shall be issued to or be renewed for any applicant when the premises upon which the licensed activity is to be conducted does not comply with all applicable codes in force in the City of North Wildwood relating to the physical condition of the premises upon which the licensed activity is to be conducted, except only where the time for abatement of such violations has not elapsed. For the purposes of issuance or renewal of a mercantile license or continuation in force of a mercantile license in existence, a code violation must be abated not later than the latter of one year from the date of service of the notice of violation on the licensee or the 30th day of April following such date of service. With regard to properties subject to Chapter 344, no mercantile license shall be issued until all provisions that are set forth therein have been satisfied in full.
[Amended 5-5-1993 by Ord. No. 1149]
Failure to abate any property maintenance violation within the allowable time for such abatement shall constitute grounds for revocation of the mercantile license, subject, however, to proper notice and hearing. For the purpose of determining whether or not a mercantile license should be revoked pursuant to the provisions of this section, a code violation must be abated not later than the latter of one year from the date of service of the notice of violation on the licensee or the 30th day of April following such date of service.
[Amended 3-20-1991 by Ord. No. 1054; 5-5-1993 by Ord. No. 1149; 5-21-2002 by Ord. No. 1411; at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
Any person or persons that shall violate any of the provisions of this chapter shall, upon conviction thereof, be subject to a fine up to $2,000, imprisonment for not more than 90 days, or community service for not more than 90 days, or any combination thereof. Each day said violation is continued shall constitute a separate offense.
[Added 6-7-2000 by Ord. No. 1360]
Any North Wildwood resident may hold a yard sale, garage sale, liquidation sale, tag sale or demolition sale on his or her property, without the necessity of obtaining a mercantile license, as long as no more than three such sales are held on any property in any calendar year. However, said resident must apply to the City Clerk for a permit not less than 48 hours in advance of the sale. No such sale shall continue for more than one calendar day, and the sale shall only be conducted between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Such sale shall not be directly or indirectly connected with the operation of any business, except the business of the agent conducting the sale if an agent is obtained for said purpose. Sold items may be removed after the time for the sale has been completed, including after the time for the sale has expired.