What permits do you need to open a salon or barber in Cuyahoga County?

Vendor's License (Regular)

A business making retail sales from a fixed location anywhere in Cuyahoga County registers for a regular vendor's license with the Fiscal Officer's Licensing and Support Services office at 2079 East Ninth Street in Cleveland, or through the Ohio Business Gateway, on Ohio Form ST-1. The amount is set by statute rather than by the county: ORC 5739.17(A) requires the applicant to 'pay into the county treasury a license fee in the sum of fifty dollars for each fixed place of business in the county that will be the situs of retail sales', and then directs that the auditor 'shall transmit twenty-five dollars of each license fee to the treasurer of state … to the credit of the organized crime commission fund' while 'The remaining twenty-five dollars of each license fee shall be credited to the general fund of the county.' The $50 is therefore a combined state and county amount, and a $25 figure repeated in older material is the county's share rather than the price — the statute's own version history shows the prior text, effective 6 September 2012 under House Bill 508 of the 129th General Assembly, reading 'license fee in the sum of twenty-five dollars', which House Bill 366 doubled with effect from 9 April 2025. As published on the county's own Vendor's Licenses page, the application fee is '$50.00 · Cash, Check or Money Order made payable to Cuyahoga County Treasurer', with 'No Annual Renewal Fee', and the page states that 'Vendors must have one regular vendor's license for each sales location' — so a second shop in the county is a second $50. The same page tells operators based elsewhere: 'If you are from outside Cuyahoga County, please contact your local County Auditor.' Two related licenses on that page are state ones, not county ones: it marks the Transient Vendor's License and the Service Vendor's License as 'Issued by the Department of Taxation'.

Body Art Facility Permit (tattooing, piercing, microblading)

A salon that tattoos, pierces, microblades or applies permanent or semi-permanent make-up outside the City of Cleveland needs a CCBH body art facility permit; an ordinary hair or nail salon has no trigger for it. The figures come from the fee table printed on CCBH's own Application to Operate a Body Art Facility, the form CCBH links today from its Tattoo and Body Piercing programme page under the heading 'Permit Application'; that form carries a revision date of March 2024, which is the date the amounts should be read against. Payment comes before review, and there is no refund for a change of mind: 'The following application must be completed in its entirety, with the appropriate fee submitted before plans will be accepted for review. Once submitted for review, the application fee is non-refundable.' Once plans are accepted, CCBH states that 'When such plans are accepted by the Board of Health they shall be acted upon within thirty (30) days of receipt.' The scope is wider than the word 'tattoo' suggests: CCBH states that 'Microblading and other forms of permanent and semi-permanent make-up are considered tattooing', citing the OAC 3701-9-01 definition, and that 'In Cuyahoga County, tattooing of any kind for compensation may only be performed in an approved body art facility by artists who have had proper training in the art and can document current completion of courses in first aid and bloodborne pathogens.' It also states that 'Under state law, microblading is prohibited at facilities that do not have approval from both the city in which it operates and the local health department,' and invites operators to call 216.201.2000 about the approval process. The municipal layer feeds directly into the county application: the submittal list requires 'Written verification from zoning authority and building department having jurisdiction that the building has been zoned and approved for the business use.'

Salon or Barbershop License

One board licenses both sides of the trade at the same price — $85 to open, $75 every two years after — but the renewal deadlines differ and are easy to miss. A cosmetology or tanning business renews by 31 January of each odd-numbered year; a barbershop renews by 31 August of each even-numbered year. Every business is inspected at least once in the two-year cycle. Moving premises or changing owner needs a fresh application, not a transfer, and a change of ownership must be applied for within thirty days. A late renewal adds $45.

Shared with other businesses in Cuyahoga County

• Weights and Measures Device Inspection and Sealing — Cuyahoga County Department of Consumer Affairs, Division of Weights and Measures, No fee, a standing county inspection duty rather than a license; the county states that 'Weights and Measures inspectors generally conduct device tests once a year' and that 'Our seal is good for 12 months', with tests unannounced. Also required for retail stores, restaurants, coffee shops, food trucks and auto repair shops; what it involves is set out on the retail stores page.
• Vendor's License — Ohio Department of Taxation, $50 one-time, per fixed location, no renewal — stays in effect until cancelled. Also required for restaurants, coffee shops, retail stores, fitness studios, auto repair shops and veterinary clinics; what it involves is set out on the retail stores page.