Memphis, TN Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Chapter 6-72 classifies ten types of sexually oriented business, adult arcades, bookstores/video stores, cabarets, motels, motion picture theaters, telecommunications businesses, theaters, escort agencies, nude model studios, and sexual encounter centers, under Section 6-72-3, and Section 6-72-4 makes it an offense to operate any of them without a permit issued by the director of police services. 00, three-year employee permit. The director must approve a permit within 30 days unless the applicant is under 18, owes the city money, falsified the application, was convicted of a qualifying offense (prostitution, obscenity, indecent exposure, sexual battery and similar crimes) within the disqualifying window, two years for a misdemeanor, five for a felony, or the business would violate the location rules.

Section 6-72-8 bars operating within 1,500 feet of a church, public or private school, the boundary of a residential or landmark district, a public park, or a residentially used lot's property line, measured in a straight line, and bars two sexually oriented businesses from locating within 1,500 feet of each other or sharing a building. Businesses lawfully operating on July 1, 1990 in violation of these buffers were grandfathered as nonconforming uses for one year. Section 6-72-9 lets an applicant denied solely for a location violation ask the city council for an exemption, which the council may grant for one year if it finds the location won't harm nearby property values or the public welfare.

Section 6-72-5 lets the director suspend a permit up to 30 days, or revoke it for five years, for violations including allowing gambling, prostitution, controlled substances, or repeated qualifying-crime convictions on the premises. Appeals of denial, suspension or revocation go first to the director under Section 6-72-6, then by common law writ of certiorari to the courts.