Business Licensing & Operations in South Carolina (2026)

Berkeley County confines sexually oriented businesses to HI heavy-industrial zoning and requires an annual regulatory…

Charleston zoning bans adult uses everywhere except the Light Industrial (LI) and Heavy Industrial (HI) districts, and…

Adult entertainment establishments in unincorporated Horry County need a chief-of-police-issued license, and every…

Lexington County Code Section 18-31 outright prohibits establishing or operating an adult bookstore anywhere in the…

Aiken County requires anyone operating a sexually oriented business, adult bookstore, cabaret, motel, arcade or escort…

Anderson County requires a sexually oriented business permit from the development standards department before any adult…

Beaufort County's Community Development Code keeps adult-oriented businesses in the unincorporated county at least…

Columbia keeps sexually oriented businesses on a tight leash: no such business may open within 1,000 feet of another…

Dorchester County's zoning ordinance bars any adult establishment from locating within 1,000 feet of a residential…

Unincorporated Florence County requires a county license to operate a sexually oriented business and bars siting one…

Greenville County confines sexually oriented businesses to S-1 zoned districts and requires a permit from the zoning…

The City of North Charleston confines sexually oriented businesses to M-1 and M-2 industrial zones and bars them within…

Pageland prohibits sexually-oriented businesses everywhere except as a Special Exception in the General Commercial (GC)…

Richland County requires a business license specific to sexually oriented businesses, with a mandatory pre-application…

Rock Hill's Zoning Ordinance keeps adult entertainment businesses at least 1,000 feet from residential uses…

Spartanburg County bans any sexually oriented business, from adult bookstores to massage parlors and escort agencies…

York County limits adult businesses to one per lot and requires a 1,000-foot buffer from any other adult business, from…

Lexington County prohibits establishing or operating a massage parlor anywhere in the unincorporated county. Section…

Anderson County requires anyone working in a massage parlor to hold a sexually oriented business employee license…

Columbia requires anyone operating a health club, massage parlor, spa, or physical culture club to obtain a city…

Florence County Code § 30-250 bars a massage parlor from locating within 1,000 feet of any school, public or private…

Richland County bans massage and bodywork establishments from staying open between 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m., requires…

Horry County zones therapeutic massage establishments as a conditional use across most commercial and many…

Rock Hill's Zoning Ordinance classifies massage therapy and day spas as a Personal Services (Type A) use. Section…

Unincorporated York County allows massage services from a home, but only if a licensed massage therapist performs them…

Charleston's code flatly bans marking anyone's body by tattooing or any similar method of placing designs, letters or…

Beaufort County's Community Development Code keeps tattoo and body piercing facilities at least 1,000 feet from homes…

Dorchester County zoning lists tattoo parlors under Use Group 14(b), Business Personal Services, and confines them to a…

Horry County confines tattoo parlors to the OPI office/professional/institutional zoning district, and only inside a…

Tattoo parlors are a permitted use only in North Charleston's M-1 light industrial district, and Section 5-5(b)(5)…

A tattoo or body piercing shop in Pageland cannot sit within 1,000 feet of a residence, church, school, day care…

Rock Hill's Zoning Ordinance places tattoo parlors and body piercing establishments in the Personal Services (Type B)…

York County zoning allows tattoo and body piercing establishments only as a conditional or special exception use under…

Anderson County Code § 24-149 requires a valid DHEC license, issued within six months, before the county will permit a…

Columbia zones tattoo and body piercing establishments as a Personal Services Use with mandatory spacing. Sec…

In unincorporated Florence County, a tattoo facility is only a conditional use where Table II of the zoning ordinance…

Lexington County doesn't license tattoo artists directly; its zoning ordinance classifies tattoo parlors and body…

South Carolina regulates vape and e-cigarette retail through its tobacco and alternative-nicotine laws in Title 16…

Unincorporated Florence County's mixed-use and townhouse zoning table carves tobacco, e-cigarette, and other…

Aiken County does not license vape shops separately, but Sec. 24-3.27 zones them tightly: a smoke or vape shop must sit…

Columbia does not license vape shops separately, but it does regulate what they must tell customers. Any retailer…

Columbia requires every junk and secondhand dealer to log each purchase in a permanent record book, report all…

Dealers buying secondhand jewelry, gold or silverware in Dorchester County must file a daily report with the sheriff…

Dealers who buy precious metals from the public, or who sell or transport nonferrous scrap like copper and aluminum to…

Charleston requires every secondhand goods dealer, other than precious-metal buyers covered by state law, to report…

North Charleston requires anyone operating a salvage or junk business in the city to obtain an annual business license…

Beaufort County requires every pawnbroker to hold a license issued by the county clerk of court before opening for…

Every junk shop and pawnbroker's establishment in Charleston must post a state-required bond, display its license at…

No one may operate as a pawnbroker in Columbia without a city license. Licensed pawnbrokers must record every pledge in…

Anyone lending on pledged property or buying secondhand serialized goods from the public in unincorporated Horry County…

Pawnbrokers in Rock Hill, South Carolina must post a licensed-shop sign at the shop entrance under City Code § 11-141…

York County regulates pawnbrokers as "alternative lending institutions" in the unincorporated area. A pawnshop needs a…

Beaufort County bans vehicle repair, rental, sales, or assembly as a home business outright: Community Development Code…

Berkeley County flatly bans auto repair as a home occupation in the unincorporated county: any repair, rental, sale or…

Charleston's home occupation ordinance expressly excludes motor vehicle repair, motor vehicle rental, and motor vehicle…

Lexington County flatly excludes vehicle repair from the home occupation permit that covers most small home businesses…

Rock Hill, South Carolina flatly bans automotive service businesses from operating out of a home. Zoning Ordinance §…

York County's Land Development Code flatly bans automotive repair as a home occupation anywhere in the unincorporated…

Aiken County limits vehicle work in the RC, RD, RM, and OR residential districts to minor maintenance done in the open…

Dorchester County's home-occupation rules effectively block a residential auto-repair business. Zoning and Land…

Horry County lists Auto Repair Services among the home occupations flatly prohibited under Sec. 927.C. On tracts under…

Beaufort County requires a county business license for every wrecker service and tightly regulates nonconsensual tows…

Any towing carrier performing nonconsensual tows in Charleston must first obtain a $10 annual towing permit from the…

Columbia caps non-consent tow fees, requires wrecker firms to hold a city business license and zone contract, and bars…

Wrecker and towing operators in unincorporated Horry County need a county business license backed by a detailed…

In unincorporated Lexington County, Sec. 70-32 bars any wrecker or towing service owner or agent from responding to an…

Wrecker services must hold a city towing permit and decal, carry heavy liability insurance, and follow strict rules for…

Every wrecker company operating in Pageland needs a current business license, and police-directed tows run through a…

Operating an automobile towing storage and recovery yard in unincorporated Pickens County requires a permit and a…

Unincorporated Richland County dispatches non-consent tows off a sheriff's-office rotation list, not driver choice…

Rock Hill, South Carolina bars wrecker operators from chasing accident scenes uninvited and requires anyone on the…

Towing a vehicle without the owner's consent from a commercial parking lot in unincorporated Greenville County is…

In unincorporated Spartanburg County, a tow company may only remove a vehicle from private property without the owner's…