[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Alderman of the City of Derby 9-23-1976
as Ch. 7 of the Charter and Revised Ordinances. Amendments noted where applicable.]
For the purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall
have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section:
A sale held out in such manner as to reasonably cause the public
to believe that the sale will offer goods damaged or altered by fire, smoke,
water or other means.
A sale held out in such manner as to reasonably cause the public
to believe that upon the disposal of the stock of goods on hand, the business,
or a particular part or department thereof, will cease and be discontinued,
including but not limited to the following sales: adjuster's; adjustment;
alteration; assignee's; bankrupt; benefit of creditors; building coming down;
closing; creditor's committee; creditor's; end; final days; flood damage;
forced out; forced out of business; last days; lease expires; loss of lease;
mortgage sale; receiver's; trustee's; quitting business.
The Chief of Police.
A sale held out in such manner as reasonably to cause the public
to believe that the merchandise offered for sale was acquired by the licensee
from a bankrupt, insolvent, assignee, liquidator, adjuster, administrator,
trustee, executor or receiver or that such merchandise was acquired by the
licensee from a person who was or is liquidating or closing out his business
or a particular part or department thereof or who was or is being forced out
of business.
Any goods, wares, merchandise or other property capable of being
the object of a sale regulated hereunder.
A sale held out in such manner as to reasonably cause the public
to believe that the person conducting the sale will cease and discontinue
business at the place of sale upon disposal of the stock of goods on hand
and will then move to and resume business at a new location in the city.
The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to or affect the following
persons:
A.
Persons acting pursuant to an order or process of a court
of competent jurisdiction.
B.
Persons acting in accordance with their powers and duties
as public officials.
C.
Duly licensed auctioneers, selling at auction.
D.
Any operator of a newspaper, news or advertising medium,
who publishes in good faith any advertisement, without knowledge of its false,
deceptive or misleading character, or without knowledge that the provisions
of this chapter have not been complied with.
E.
Persons who are regularly engaged, in whole or in part,
in the business of purchasing damaged or unclaimed merchandise from railroad
and transportation companies and of selling the same at retail and whose advertising
clearly indicates the regular and continuous, rather than the periodic and
intermittent, operation of such business; provided, however, that this exception
shall extend only to the sale of such merchandise.
F.
Persons who sell, offer for sale, announce or advertise
for sale merchandise at a reduction in price when such reduction in price
is made in the normal course of business operations.
If the person licensed under this chapter shall continue in business
at the location at which a closing out sale was conducted after the termination
of the license period, the licensee shall discontinue any further advertising
of such sale and shall remove from the premises and from the merchandise licensed
to be sold under such license all and every kind of advertising of such sale.
Any person who has held a going out of business or a removal of business
sale at the location stated in his application under a license issued under
§ 147-13, within a period of one year last past from the date of
such application, shall not be granted a license for the conduct of either
of such type of sales at such location.
A.
If the sale to be conducted under a license issued under
this chapter is a going out of business sale or a removal of business sale,
such inventory shall not include merchandise ordered in contemplation of the
conduct of the sale licensed under this chapter, and any abnormal purchase
or additions to the stock of goods of the applicant within a period of 30
days prior to the date of the application for a license under this chapter
or any such purchases or additions which shall exceed 50% of the personal
property assessed in the name of the applicant on the last completed grand
list of the city shall be deemed to be of such character. During the licensed
closing out sale, no additions shall be made to the stock of merchandise set
forth in the inventory and nothing shall be offered for sale or sold at such
sale which is an addition to that listed in such inventory or which has been
acquired on a consignment basis, title of which is not vested in the applicant,
or which has been added to the applicant's stock within a period of 30 days
prior to the date the applicant filed applications for a license.
B.
Under no circumstances shall the stock of inventory offered
for sale exceed 50% of the average inventory carried by the applicant over
the preceding five years, or if an applicant for a license under this chapter
has been in business for a lesser period of time, then such inventory offered
for sale shall not exceed 50% of the average inventory carried for the period
of time the applicant has been in business. Any abnormal purchases during
the years prior to the application for a license shall be cause for refusal
to issue the license required by this chapter.
The Chief of Police shall verify the details of such inventory filed
in connection with an application for a license required by § 147-10
and shall also verify the items of merchandise sold during any sale under
such license, and it shall be unlawful for any person to whom a closing out
sale license has been issued to refuse to furnish to the Chief of Police on
demand, or to any person designated by him for that purpose, all the facts
connected with the stock on hand or any other information which he may require
in the enforcement of this chapter.
A licensee under this chapter shall:
A.
Adhere to inventory. Make no additions whatsoever, during
the period of the license sale, to the stock of goods set forth in the inventory
attached to the application for license.
B.
Advertising declaration. Declare in his advertising of
such sale the total retail value of the merchandise set forth in such inventory
which is being offered for sale under such license.
C.
Advertise property. Refrain from employing any untrue,
deceptive or misleading advertising.
D.
Adhere to advertising. Conduct the licensed sale in strict
conformity with any advertising or holding out incident thereto.
E.
Keep duplicate inventory. Keep available at the place
of sale a duplicate copy of the inventory submitted with the application and
shall present such duplicate to inspecting officials upon request.
F.
Segregate noninventoried goods. Keep any other goods
separate and apart from the goods listed in the filed inventory as being objects
of sale and shall make such distinction clear to the public by placing tags
on all inventoried goods in and about the place of sale apprising the public
of the status of all such goods.
Each article of goods sold by a person licensed under this chapter not
listed in the inventory or sold without a license or after a license shall
have expired or otherwise sold in violation of the provisions of this chapter
shall constitute a separate offense under this chapter, and any false or misleading
statement in such inventory, application or renewal application for a license
required by § 147-10 shall constitute a violation of this chapter.
It shall be the duty of the Police Department under the direction of
the Chief of Police to see that the provisions of this chapter are strictly
complied with and to report for prosecution all cases of violation of or refusal
or neglect to comply with such provisions.
No person shall conduct any sale of merchandise at retail in the city
which shall be advertised or held out by any means as a going out of business
sale, a removal of business sale, as such terms are defined in § 147-1,
and no person shall advertise any such sale, unless and until a license shall
have been issued to such person by the licensing authority, which license
shall be known as a "closing out sale license." The advertising of such sale
referred to in this section shall include any advertisement or notice thereof
appearing in any newspaper, magazine or other publication or in any handbill,
poster, bill, circular, pamphlet, letter, sign, placard, card, label or telegram
or broadcast as a part of any radio or television program.
Application for a closing out sale license shall be made in writing
to the licensing authority not later than 30 days prior to the advertising
or offering for sale of any merchandise and shall contain the following information:
A.
The names and addresses of the persons to be licensed,
including the names of all partners, and, if a corporation, the names and
addresses of the officers and directors thereof.
B.
The name and address of the owner of the merchandise
to be sold under such license if the applicant is acting as an agent of the
owner.
C.
An attached inventory containing a complete and accurate
list of the merchandise on hand which is to be sold under such license which
shall set forth the cost price of the enumerated articles, the manufacturer's
name and stock number, the date of the purchase and the name of the person
from whom such articles were purchased. If the merchandise to be sold under
such license was purchased for a lump sum so that it is not practicable to
list the cost price thereof, the inventory shall state the lump sum paid therefor.
Such inventory shall have an affidavit attached thereto from which it shall
appear that the information set forth therein is true to the knowledge of
the applicant.
D.
The place at which such sale is to be conducted.
E.
The date and the period of time during which such sale
is to continue.
F.
A full and complete statement of the facts in regard
to the sale and the manner in which the sale will be conducted.
G.
The means to be employed in advertising such sale, together
with the proposed content of any advertisements.
H.
Facts establishing that all taxes previously levied on
such merchandise by the city have been paid, and no license shall be issued
for the closing out sale thereof until any tax so payable to the city thereon
shall have been paid.
Each applicant for a license required by this chapter shall execute
and file with the Chief of Police a good and sufficient bond, in an amount
of 1% of the wholesale market value of the merchandise to be offered for sale
with two or more sureties thereon who shall be property owners in the city
or with surety thereon a surety company authorized to do business in the state
and which bond shall be subject to the approval of the corporation counsel
and shall be conditioned upon faithful observance of all the conditions of
this chapter and shall also indemnify any purchaser who suffers any loss by
reason of misrepresentation in a sale licensed hereunder. The bond shall continue
in effect until the expiration of the statute of limitations on all claims
secured by such bond. The licensee shall notify the Chief of Police of any
suit filed as a result of the operations licensed. Any purchaser claiming
to have been damaged by misrepresentation in such sale may maintain an action
at law against such licensee making such misrepresentations and may join as
party defendant the surety or sureties on such bond as herein provided.
Within two weeks of the receipt of any license application, the Chief
of Police shall set a time and place for public hearing thereon, notice of
which hearing shall be published in the newspaper having a circulation in
the city. When satisfied as a result of such public hearing or otherwise that
neither any fraud nor deception in the conduct of the sales or in the advertising
thereof nor any misrepresentation of the goods to be sold is intended or will
be practiced and that such applicant has complied with all the requirements
of law, the Chief of Police, upon receipt of the bond required by § 147-12,
duly approved by the corporation counsel as to form and sufficiency, shall
issue to the applicant a license.
A.
The license fee for the license required by this chapter
shall be as follows:
|
Length of Sale
|
Fee
| |
|---|---|---|
|
For a period not exceeding 15 days
|
$25
| |
|
For a period not exceeding 30 days
|
$50
| |
|
For a period not exceeding 60 days
|
$75
|
B.
In each instance there shall be a further fee of $1 per
$1,000 of the cost of the merchandise to be sold under such license as set
forth in the inventory filed with the application for such license.
A.
Under any closing out sales license, the licensee shall
be permitted to conduct only the type of sale described by him in his application
for such license and shall be authorized to sell, under such license, only
the merchandise described in the inventory attached to such application.
B.
No sale under this chapter shall be licensed in the month
of December, nor shall any license issued under this chapter be issued to
any person who shall not have been, for a period of one year preceding such
sale, continuously engaged in the city in the business of selling merchandise
at retail.
The license to be issued under this chapter shall be for such period
as may be requested by the applicant in his application for such license,
not exceeding 60 successive days, Sundays and holidays excluded, from the
date of the issuance of such license. If a license shall have been issued
for a period less than such maximum license period, such license may be extended
on application of the licensee for a further period which, with the original
license period, will not exceed such maximum license period, upon payment
of an additional license fee which shall be the difference between the license
fee previously paid and that which would have been paid thereunder if the
original license period had extended to the date to which the same shall be
extended.
The Chief of Police may at any time revoke or suspend a license granted
for any violation of this chapter or of any law or ordinance relating to the
conduct of such business.
Any applicant for a license required by this chapter whose application
shall be refused or any licensee whose license shall be revoked or suspended
by the Chief of Police may, within 10 days thereafter, appeal from such adverse
decision to the Board of Aldermen at its next regular meeting.
