Wausau, WI Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Chapter 5.18 defines an adult bookstore, novelty store or video store as a business whose principal purpose, or more than 50% of its revenue or floor space, involves selling or renting material depicting "specified sexual activities" or "specified anatomical areas" (§ 5.18.020); a business staying under that 50% threshold and restricting the display to an adults-only area is exempt. Section 5.18.030 bars operating without the license, though an establishment already running when the chapter took effect got a 90-day grace period, and adult cabarets are licensed separately under the tavern-entertainment license in chapter 5.20.

Applicants file with the City Clerk, and the Chief of Police and Health Department review arrest and ownership records before the Public Health and Safety Committee acts within 30 days and the Clerk notifies the applicant within 60 days, with judicial review available under Wis. Stat. § 68.13 (§§ 5.18.040-.050). The license expires every June 30, with renewals due by April 30, and it cannot be transferred to another owner or address (§§ 5.18.070-.080). The Committee can suspend a license up to 60 days or revoke it after a hearing for a related conviction or chapter violation; a revoked licensee cannot reapply for one year, and the premises itself is barred from adult use for 12 months (§ 5.18.090).

Private viewing booths must have open sightlines from a lighted aisle, solid nonbreakable six-foot walls, at least ten foot-candles of lighting, and posted STD information (§ 5.18.100), and operators must keep minors from loitering in or viewing content at the establishment (§ 5.18.110).