New York Consolidated Laws, General Business Law - GBS § 438. Barber shop owners’ license; requirements

1. On and after October first, nineteen hundred forty-seven no person shall own or operate a barber shop unless a barber shop owners’ license is first obtained from the secretary of state for each barber shop owned or operated.

2. The establishment of itinerant shops is hereby prohibited and the maintenance of a bona fide establishment with a permanent and definite location shall be a prerequisite for the issuance of a barber shop owner's license.

2-a. The holder of a certificate of registration as an apprentice shall not be entitled to a barber shop owner's license.

3. An applicant for a barber shop owner's license must establish that he or she is the real owner and possesses title to or is entitled to the possession of the shop. He or she must furnish satisfactory evidence of proper location of the shop, proper layout and adequate equipment for the shop, sanitary conditions in the shop and its surroundings. Such applicant must also furnish satisfactory evidence of good moral character, except that in determining an applicant's good moral character, the secretary of state shall not automatically disqualify an applicant on the basis of a criminal conviction. The secretary shall review such criminal history information in accordance with article twenty-three-A of the correction law.

4. A license issued under this section must at all times during the term thereof be displayed in the barber shop for which issued.

5. Notice in writing shall be given the secretary of state at his office in Albany by the holder of a barber shop owner's license of any change in address of the barber shop together with the return of license, whereupon a properly signed endorsement will be made on the face of the license as to such change and the license then returned to the licensee. A change of address by a licensee without such notice and endorsement of license shall operate to cancel the license.