Charlotte County, FL Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Charlotte County requires a sexually oriented business license from the Community Development Department before any adult bookstore, adult video store, adult novelty store, adult dancing establishment, adult photographic or modeling studio, or adult theater may operate in the unincorporated county, per Sec. 1-10-121(a). The license application under Sec. 1-10-122 demands sworn disclosure of every partner, officer, or stockholder with managerial responsibility, a site plan accurate to plus or minus six inches, fingerprint cards taken by the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office, and a non-refundable application fee credited toward the first annual license fee. The Sheriff's Office and community development staff investigate the application and must report back within thirty days; the department then has fifty days total to grant or deny, per Sec. 1-10-124(a). A license runs October 1 through September 30 and must be displayed conspicuously on the premises, per Sec. 1-10-126.

Operating hours are fixed by Sec. 1-10-137: no performance, sale, or service may be offered between 2:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m., regardless of whether the activity is sexual in nature. Sec. 1-10-136 bars anyone under eighteen from being admitted, remaining on the premises, buying anything, or working there. Sec. 1-10-138 sets a three-foot buffer between an employee displaying specified anatomical areas and any patron other than another employee.

A license can be suspended for thirty, ninety, or one hundred eighty days on escalating conviction counts under Sec. 1-10-131, and outright revoked under Sec. 1-10-132 if violations recur after a 180-day suspension; a revoked operator is barred from holding a sexually oriented business license in the county for ten years.