Columbia, SC Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Section 11-750 of the Columbia Code of Ordinances sets the spacing map for adult businesses. No sexually oriented business, defined to include adult arcades, adult bookstores or video stores, adult cabarets, adult motion picture theaters, semi-nude model studios, and sexual device shops, may locate within 1,000 feet of a parcel already occupied by another sexually oriented business. Separately, none may operate within 700 feet of a place of worship, any public or private educational facility (from day cares through universities), a public park or outdoor recreational facility, or any residence or property zoned for residential use.

Distances are measured in a straight line from the closest structure used by the business, including signs and roof overhangs, to the closest property boundary of the protected use, with no discount for intervening buildings. Beyond location, section 11-734 requires a separate sexually oriented business license for the operator and a sexually oriented business employee license for every worker, filed in person with the city's business license administrator and accompanied by proof of age and, for the business license, a legal description and floor plan of the premises.

The administrator must issue or formally deny the license within 20 days of a complete filing, and can deny it for reasons including an underage applicant, false information on the application, a prior nuisance finding against a business the applicant controlled, or a disqualifying prior conviction. A nonconforming business operating lawfully before the article took effect gets two years to recoup its investment before it must conform, with the possibility of a hardship extension the operator must request at least 60 days before the deadline expires.