Southfield, MI Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Section 7.906 makes it unlawful to operate a sexually oriented business in Southfield, covering adult arcades, retail stores, cabarets, motels, motion-picture and live stage theaters, model studios and sexual encounter centers, without a license issued under Chapter 87. Each license runs one year and can be renewed. Applications go to the city clerk and must disclose the full ownership structure, including every officer and stockholder of a privately held corporation and any 10-percent-plus stockholder of a public one, past employment, and any conviction or pending charge involving moral turpitude, dishonesty, fraud, violence, criminal sexual conduct or controlled substances (Sec.

7.907). The police, fire, building and planning departments all review the application, with periodic unannounced inspections after licensing (Sec. 7.910). A license can be denied if anyone on the application had a prior sexually oriented business license revoked for cause, or was convicted of a disqualifying offense within the last five years (Sec. 7.911). Section 7.913 requires that the business sit in a district, location and manner the zoning ordinance actually permits under Chapter 45. Once open, employees and patrons cannot appear nude on the premises, seminude employees cannot take pay directly from a patron or touch a customer, adult booths are banned outright, and alcohol and illegal drugs are prohibited entirely (Secs.

7.903, 7.905). No one under eighteen may be on the premises at all (Sec. 7.904), and the business must close between 2:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. every day (Sec. 7.917).