Thousand Oaks Municipal Code Ch. 4 Closing-Out Sales

It shall be unlawful for any person to advertise, represent, or hold out that any sale of goods, wares, or merchandise is an insurance, bankruptcy, liquidation, mortgage, insolvent’s, assignee’s, executor’s, administrator’s, receiver’s, removal, or closing-out sale, or any particular department of such stock of goods, wares, or merchandise, under the guise of discontinuing business or discontinuing that particular department, or a sale of goods, wares, or merchandise damaged by fire, smoke, water, or otherwise, or a sale of goods from the stock of a bankrupt, receiver, trustee, insurance company, receivership, or trusteeship, or to conduct such sale unless he shall have first obtained a permit to conduct such sale from the City Manager.

(§ 1 (a), Ord. 65)

Applications for permits for the sales set forth in Section 5-4.01 of this chapter shall be in writing and under oath showing:

(a) All the facts in regard to the insurance, bankruptcy, liquidation, mortgaging, insolvency, assignment, administration, receivership, trusteeship, or removal by reason of which such sale is to be conducted, or in regard to the closing out of the applicant’s stock of goods, wares, or merchandise damaged by fire, smoke, water, or otherwise;

(b) All the facts in regard to the sale which the applicant proposes to conduct and the place and manner of conducting the sale;

(c) An inventory of the goods, wares, and merchandise to be sold at such sale or auction;

(d) A statement of the names of the person from whom the goods, wares, and merchandise to be sold was obtained;

(e) The date of delivery of such goods, wares, and merchandise to the person applying for the permit;

(f) The place from which the goods, wares, and merchandise was last taken;

(g) All the details necessary to fully identify the goods, wares, and merchandise so to be sold;

(h) The proposed period of time over which such sales shall continue, which period shall not exceed three (3) months; and

(i) The type of sale the applicant proposes to advertise or conduct.

(§ 1 (e) and (f), Ord. 65)

Applicants for such closing-out sales shall, at the time of such application, pay a minimum filing fee in the amount of One Hundred and no/100ths ($100.00) Dollars, plus additional fees as follows:

(a) For any amount of net inventory over and above Five Thousand and no/100ths ($5,000.00) Dollars up to Ten Thousand and no/100ths ($10,000.00) Dollars, the sum of Twenty and no/100ths ($20.00) Dollars per One Thousand and no/100ths ($1,000.00) Dollars, or fraction thereof;

(b) For the next Ten Thousand and no/100ths ($10,000.00) Dollars of net inventory, the sum of Ten and no/100ths ($10.00) Dollars per One Thousand and no/100ths ($1,000.00) Dollars or fraction thereof; and

(c) For all over Twenty Thousand and no/100ths ($20,000.00) Dollars of net inventory, the sum of Five and no/100ths ($5.00) Dollars per One Thousand and no/100ths ($1,000.00) Dollars, or fraction thereof.

Any person or business with a fixed place of business within the City shall be exempt from the payment of a fee but shall be required to abide by all the other terms and conditions of this chapter.

(§§ 1 (d) and 12, Ord. 65)

The City Manager shall not grant any permit pursuant to the provisions of this chapter until the application therefor shall have been referred to the Police Department for its investigation and report thereon.

(§ 1 (f), Ord. 65)

Any person making a false statement in the application provided for in this chapter shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable as provided in Section 5-4.15 of this chapter.

(§ 3, Ord. 65)

The City Manager shall endorse upon such application the date of its filing and shall preserve the same as a record of his office.

(§ 2, Ord. 65)

If the City Manager shall be satisfied that such proposed sale is of the character represented by the applicant, that the applicant is of good moral character, that neither the applicant nor any of its officers, directors, or members have violated the provisions of this chapter, and that the advertising or conducting of such sale will not be injurious to the peace. health, safety, or welfare of the people of the City, the City Manager may issue a revocable permit to the person applying for the same, authorizing him to advertise and conduct a sale of the particular kind set forth in the application in accordance with the requirements of this chapter.

(§ 1 (g), Ord. 65)

Upon a sworn application to the City Manager at any time during the three (3) months’ term of such permit that all the goods, wares, and merchandise described and inventoried in the original application have not been sold, accompanied by a statement or inventory of what remains thereof, a permit supplemental to the original permit may be issued by the City Manager upon the same terms and conditions as the original permit, granting authority to continue such sale for a further period of three (3) months.

(§ 1 (f), Ord. 65)

The permit provided for in this chapter shall be valid only for a sale or auction of the goods, wares, and merchandise inventoried and described in the application for such permit in the manner and at the time and place set forth in such application, and any removal of such goods, wares, and merchandise so inventoried and described in such application from the place of sale set forth in such application shall cause such goods, wares, and merchandise to lose their identity as an insurance, bankrupt, liquidation, mortgage, insolvent’s, assignee’s, executor’s, administrator’s, receiver’s, or trustee’s stock of goods, wares, or merchandise damaged by fire, smoke, or water, or otherwise, and no permit shall thereafter be issued for the conducting of a sale of any of such goods, wares, or merchandise so removed from the place set forth and described in such application pursuant to the provisions of this chapter at any other place.

(§ 4, Ord. 65)

The City Manager or any other City officer designated by the City Manager shall at all times have the power, and it shall be his duty, to make examinations or investigations of the business, and the books, records, accounts, and other papers pertaining thereto, of any company or individual theretofore permitted or authorized to conduct such sales.

(§ 1 (c), Ord. 65)

No person, in contemplation of conducting an insurance, bankrupt, liquidation, mortgage, insolvent’s, assignee’s, executor’s, administrator’s, receiver’s, or trustee’s removal or closing-out sale or auction, or a sale of goods, wares, or merchandise damaged by fire, smoke, water, or otherwise, or a sale of goods from the stock of a bankrupt, receiver, trustee, insurance company, receivership, or trusteeship, pursuant to a permit, as provided in this chapter, shall order any goods, wares, or merchandise for the purpose of selling and disposing of the same at such sale.

If the City Manager determines that any unusual purchases and additions to the stock of such goods, wares, or merchandise have been made within sixty (60) days prior to the filing of the application for a permit to conduct such sale, he shall refuse to issue the permit.

(§ 5, Ord. 65)

It shall be unlawful for any person carrying on or conducting an insurance, bankrupt, liquidation, mortgage, insolvent, assignee’s, executor’s, administrator’s, receiver’s, or trustee’s removal or closing-out sale, or sale of goods, wares, or merchandise damaged by fire, smoke, water, or otherwise, or a sale of goods from the stock of a bankrupt, receiver, trustee, insurance company, receivership, or trusteeship, pursuant to a permit granted as provided in this chapter to add, during the continuance of such sale, any goods, wares, or merchandise, for the purpose of selling the same, to the stock of goods, wares, or merchandise described and inventoried in his original application for such permit, and no goods, wares, or merchandise shall be sold at or during such sale excepting the goods, wares, or merchandise described and inventoried in such original application. Each and every addition of goods, wares, or merchandise for the purpose of sale to such stock of goods, wares, or merchandise described and inventories in such application and each sale of such goods, wares, or merchandise as were not inventoried and described in such application shall constitute a separate offense. Any violation of the provisions of this section shall be a misdemeanor punishable as provided in Section 5-4.15 of this chapter.

(§ 6, Ord. 65)

Any person who shall advertise, represent, or hold out any sale or auction of goods, wares, or merchandise to be an insurance, bankrupt, liquidation, mortgage, insolvent, assignee’s, executor’s, administrator’s, receiver’s, or trustee’s removal or closing-out sale, or a sale of goods, wares, or merchandise damaged by fire, water, smoke, or otherwise, or a sale of goods from the stock of a bankrupt, receiver, trustee, insurance company, receivership, or trusteeship without first complying with the provisions of this chapter shall be deemed guilty of a violation of this Code pursuant to Section 1-2.01 of Chapter 2 of Title 1 of this Code.

(§ 7, Ord. 65)

(a) Official sales. The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to sheriffs, constables, or other public or court officers or to any other person acting upon the license, direction, or authority of any State or Federal court selling goods, wares, or merchandise in the course of their official duties and pursuant to the provisions of a statute authorizing such sale.

(b) Publishers of advertisement. The provisions of this chapter shall not be deemed to apply to any publisher of a newspaper, magazine, or other publication who publishes such advertisement in good faith without knowledge of its false, deceptive, or misleading character or without knowledge that the provisions of this chapter have not been complied with.

(§§ 9 and 10, Ord. 65)

Any person who shall hold, conduct, or carry on any sale or auction of goods, wares, or merchandise as an insurance, bankrupt, mortgage, insolvent’s, assignee’s, executor’s, administrator’s, receiver’s, or trustee’s removal or closing-out sale, or a sale of goods, wares, or merchandise damaged by fire, water, or otherwise, or a sale of goods, wares, or merchandise from the stock of a bankrupt, receiver, trustee, insurance company, receivership, or trusteeship contrary to the provisions of this chapter, or whose advertising, statement, representation, or assertion is false or untrue in any respect, or which, by the exercise of reasonable care, should be known to be false or untrue, deceptive, or misleading, or who shall violate any of the provisions of this chapter shall be deemed guilty of a violation of this Code pursuant to Section 1-2.01 of Chapter 2 of Title 1 of this Code.

(§ 8, Ord. 65, as amended by § XIII, Ord. 770-NS, eff. February 26, 1981)