Richland, WA Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Section 5.21.010 defines an "adult use establishment" to include adult retail stores selling adult-oriented merchandise as a principal purpose, adult panoram theaters, adult motion picture theaters, and live adult entertainment establishments featuring go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers or impersonators. Section 5.21.020 makes it unlawful to conduct, manage or operate any of these businesses without a city business license, and separately unlawful for any entertainer or manager to work at one without their own individual license. Applicants under Section 5.21.030 must submit fingerprints taken by Richland police, photographs, a floor plan, a business history, and disclosure of any criminal convictions within the past five years; police, fire and Community and Development Services each investigate the application within 30 calendar days under Section 5.21.040, and the clerk must issue or deny the business license within that same 30-day window under Section 5.21.050, or a temporary license issues automatically.

Section 5.21.160 sets the business license fee at $700 and the manager or entertainer license fee at $100. Section 5.21.060 lets the clerk deny a license to anyone under 18, anyone serving a sentence for a sex-related or prostitution offense, or anyone overdue on city fees or fines. Section 5.21.180 imposes operating rules on every licensed establishment: entertainers may not be uncovered below prescribed limits except on a stage at least 18 inches high and 8 feet from patrons, no alcohol or drugs may be sold or consumed on the premises, no one under 18 may be admitted or employed, a licensed manager must be on duty at all times, and the establishment may not open between 2:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.