Doing business in Loris
Open or run a business
The steps to open a business in the city: license, zoning, permits, and inspections, in the order you’ll actually hit them.
Every contact and portal below comes from the City of Loris and SC state agencies' own published pages, verified July 2, 2026, and the zoning step links into our sourced Code. Where the city publishes nothing, this page says so rather than guessing.
Steps to open a business
Get a city business license
Most businesses operating in the city limits need a City of Loris business license. Applications are handled in person at City Hall by the Business License Clerk; the application form is on the city's page. The city doesn't publish its fee or class schedule online, ask the clerk for your rate.
City of Loris
Check zoning: what's allowed where
Before you sign a lease, confirm your use is permitted at that address. The city's Planning & Zoning Director can verify it; the zoning ordinance itself is mirrored here on ourloris, section by section.
City of Loris · sourced Code
Building & sign permits
Build-out, signage, and inspections go through the city's iWorQ permitting portal. Allow a minimum of 10 business days to process most permits.
iWorQ portal
Food service & health permits
Restaurants and food businesses need a state retail food permit. As of July 2024 this is issued by the SC Department of Agriculture, not DHEC, which was split up that year. Register and pay online through the department.
SC Dept. of Agriculture
Downtown storefronts & contacts
The city doesn't publish a list of available Main Street storefronts, an economic-development office, or a downtown coordinator, so we won't invent one. The best current contact for someone looking at downtown space is the Loris Chamber of Commerce.
Not published by the city
Working from home
Plenty of Loris businesses run out of a house, a handyman, a home baker, someone selling online. The rules that apply are a little different, and a few of them surprise people. Here are the three that come up most, with the primary source for each.
Running a business from your home
The city's zoning ordinance allows a "home occupation" with limits: it has to be carried on wholly within your dwelling, use no more than 25% or 600 square feet of the floor area, keep all activity, storage, and display indoors and out of sight from the street, and it can't include on-premises display and sale of merchandise. You still need the city business license from the first step. The full definition is in the zoning code.
City of Loris · sourced Code
Handyman or contractor: when the state gets involved
South Carolina ties licensing to the size of the job (SC Code § 40-59-20). A job under $500 needs no state license. From $500 to $5,000 in a single trade, you register as a Residential Specialty Contractor. Over $5,000, you need a Residential Builder license. Some minor jobs like painting and small repairs are exempt regardless of price (§ 40-59-265). Licensing is handled by the SC Residential Builders Commission at LLR.
SC LLR · state law
Cottage food: selling what you make at home
South Carolina's home-based food production law (SC Code § 44-1-143) lets you sell non-refrigerated foods like baked goods, candies, and jams made in your own home kitchen with no permit, license, registration, or inspection. Your labels must carry the statement "PROCESSED AND PREPARED BY A HOME-BASED FOOD PRODUCTION OPERATION THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO SOUTH CAROLINA'S FOOD SAFETY REGULATIONS." Sales have to stay within South Carolina. If you'd rather not print your home address, you can get an SCDA ID number to use instead. This is separate from the commercial food permit above, which is for restaurants and retail food made outside a home kitchen.
SC home-based food law