Photo by Maryland Route 5In the wake of a raid last month on several second-hand stores in Adams Morgan, a group of shopkeepers has launched a petition asking the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs to “stop treating record stores and vintage stores like pawn shops.”
The demand stems from an incident April 4 in which officials from DCRA told the proprietors of Idle Times Books, Crooked Beat Records, Meeps vintage shop and other businesses dealing in second-hand and vintage goods that they needed to obtain $700 second-hand business licenses or risk fines that could total as much as $2,000 a day.
District regulations compel pawn shops to itemize and report each piece of merchandise they take in to the Metropolitan Police Department’s pawn unit, a requirement that businesses dealing in a single (or relatively few) types of merchandise—say, used records or CDs—find especially burdensome.
The reporting requirement is designed to prevent the sale of stolen property, a legitimate concern, but one that the Adams Morgan shops feel is unnecessary for their business models. The petition opens:
Remember that old high school wardrobe you sold to Meeps? The beat up Styx record that Joint Custody took off your hands? That copy of George Orwell’s 1984 you sold to Idle Time Books? Well, MPD wants to know about it.
Furthermore, MPD’s pawn unit requires stores to hold items for at least 15 days before resale to allow for an inspection to determine they are not stolen.
To that end, the stores behind the petition are asking the D.C. Council to speed through legislation that would carve out exceptions for stores that deal in vintage goods. Councilmember Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), who represents Adams Morgan, told the City Paper last month he was “very concerned” about the crackdown on the shops.
But some of the stores behind the petition are itching for quick action. Crooked Beat owner Bill Daly told the Huffington Post that if D.C. presents him with no other option than to get the fairly pricey second-hand dealer’s license, he’ll ditch his 18th Street NW digs and relocate to Northern Virginia.
Here’s the full text of the petition:
Remember that old high school wardrobe you sold to Meeps? The beat up Styx record that Joint Custody took off your hands? That copy of George Orwell’s 1984 you sold to Idle Time Books? Well, MPD wants to know about it.
On April 4, officials with the D.C. Office of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) and the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) raided a number of Adams Morgan and U Street-area businesses that sell vintage and used goods, threatening them with fines and closure for operating without a secondhand business license. This license is intended to regulate pawn shops, to safeguard against the selling of stolen goods.
The regulations would require shops like Meeps, Idle Time Books, GoodWood and Miss Pixies—as well as all the record stores in town—to submit to MPD’s pawn unit a detailed list of goods acquired each time they make a purchase. Additionally, MPD wants the stores to hold items for 15 days for police inspection before they can be sold. These requirements introduce a regulatory load which helps no one and threatens the existence of the small businesses that make DC unique.
DC’s secondhand business regulations are outdated, unnecessarily burdensome, and overly broad. A lawyer working with DC’s small business community has proposed amendments to the regulations that would bring them up to date and carve out exemptions for the businesses described above.
Please add your name to this petition to request that the City Council pass emergency legislation that would provide 90 days of relief and time to establish a permanent exemption for businesses that sell used and vintage goods. It’s vital that this happen to re-establish a sense of trust between local government and the businesses that drive our local economy.
