What permits do you need to open a retail store in Guilford County?

HERA Contamination Monitoring Well Fees

Guilford County's Health and Environmental Risk Assessment programme prices contamination monitoring wells separately from ordinary private-well work, and an auto-repair shop, a fuel-handling site or a retail business with underground storage is the type of business it reaches. The Guilford County FY2027 adopted budget fee schedule, adopted June 25, 2026, carries four HERA Monitoring Wells lines: Small Business Well Monitoring $600, Corporate Site Well Monitoring $850, Additional Well Monitoring per Site $60 and Annual Service Fee for Contamination Monitoring Wells $525. The FY2025 column is blank for all four and the FY2026 and FY2027 columns carry the same amounts, which dates their introduction to the FY2026 schedule. The reason is recorded in the FY2026 budget ordinance's Summary of Changes: 'The Health and Environmental Risk Assessment (HERA) Program fee structure is amended to reflect an updated MOU with the NC Department of Environmental Quality.' Two things follow for a business budgeting this. First, the small-business and corporate-site amounts are alternatives selected by the character of the site rather than cumulative, and the $60 line is an increment for each further well at the same site. Second, the $525 is a recurring annual service fee, so a site with monitoring wells carries an ongoing cost rather than a one-off charge, which is easy to miss when pricing the purchase of a former filling station or repair shop. The county's power to charge is G.S. 130A-39(g), whose fee plan must be recommended by the local health director and approved by the local board of health and the county board of commissioners, given here through the budget ordinance. Environmental Health: 336-641-3771.

Guilford County Malt Beverage and Wine Retail License (Beverage License)

This is the one mandatory Guilford County business license, and it is the county record most often reported wrongly. G.S. 105-113.78 states: 'A person holding any of the following retail ABC permits for an establishment located in a county shall obtain from the county a county license for that activity. The annual tax for each license is as stated.' The four amounts printed in that statute are on-premises malt beverage $25.00, off-premises malt beverage $5.00, on-premises unfortified wine or on-premises fortified wine or both $25.00, and off-premises unfortified wine or off-premises fortified wine or both $25.00. Because the statute says the tax 'is as stated', these are fixed amounts and not a ceiling the county may set below or above. Guilford County's own Application for Beverage License form carries the procedure but prints no fee figures, so the statute is the fee source for these amounts. The 'or both' wording matters: a business holding on-premises unfortified and on-premises fortified wine permits pays one $25 license rather than two, although the county's form offers six separate tick boxes. The license survived the 2014 repeal of the general privilege license taxes because it sits in a different Article: G.S. 153A-152 now states only '§ 153A-152: Repealed by Session Laws 2014-3, s. 12.3(b), effective July 1, 2015.' and G.S. 160A-211 the same for cities, while Part 3 of Article 2C of Chapter 105, headed 'Local Licenses', was untouched. The county cannot decline to require it: the only opt-out in the Article is G.S. 105-113.71(c), which reaches municipalities and names only the Town of Cary. The statute also sets the order of issue, and G.S. 105-113.70(a) states that 'no county license may be issued for an establishment located in a city in that county until the applicant has received from the city the applicable license for that activity', so a restaurant, cafe or shop selling beer or wine inside Greensboro or High Point needs the city license first and then the county's, while one outside any municipality needs only the county's. The City of Greensboro's own privilege license page publishes Sales of Wine On/Off Premises at $15 and Sales of Beer On/Off Premises at $15, matching the G.S. 105-113.77(a) city rates, so the city charges an on-premises wine license rather than having used the G.S. 105-113.71(b) discretion to decline one. City licenses also carry a progressive loading of 110% of the base for each additional license of the same type under G.S. 105-113.77(b); the county license carries no equivalent. Issuance is mandatory and documentation is capped: G.S. 105-113.70(a) requires only a copy of the most recently completed State ABC application without attachments, the ABC permit for visual inspection, and payment of the prescribed tax, and the county's form marks the STATE ABC PERMIT NUMBER as required information. Apply and pay by mail to the Guilford County Tax Department, 400 West Market Street, PO Box 3138, Greensboro, NC 27402, phone 336-641-3363; a second office is at 325 E. Russell Ave., High Point, 336-641-7911. G.S. 105-113.70(d) states 'A local government may not require a license for activities related to the manufacture or sale of alcoholic beverages other than the licenses stated in this Article', and G.S. 105-113.79 gives cities alone a wholesaler license capped at $37.50, with no county equivalent.

Event Permit (Guilford County Inspections, trade fees only)

A business staging a temporary event in Guilford County's permitting area — a pop-up, a festival stand, a temporary installation with power or gas — takes an Event Permit from Guilford County Inspections, and the county charges no separate base fee for it. The two current county documents read together make that clear. The Guilford County FY2027 adopted budget fee schedule, adopted June 25, 2026, carries the line as 'Event Permit (Trade Fees Only)', and the $75.00 in its FY2027 column is the trade-fee amount rather than an event charge: every other '(Trade Fees Only)' line in the same schedule carries the identical $75.00 — Home Occupation, Family Care Home, Daycare in Residence and Alterations (No change) — and the live Inspections fee page renders those same lines with no figure at all, as 'Event - Trade fee(s)', 'Home Occupation - Trade fee(s)', 'Family Care Home - Trade fee(s)' and 'Daycare in Residence - Trade fee(s)'. So the correct way to price this is the applicable trade permits at $75 each, and a quoted '$75 Event Permit' would misstate it. One reading note explains where that misreading comes from: the county's Change column on this line shows $75.00 against a previous $40.00 rather than the $35 difference, because for newly priced lines the county repeats the new amount in that column. The FY2027 column is the figure. An event serving food also needs an Environmental Health temporary food establishment permit at the statutory $75 per permit, and a tent brings in Guilford County Emergency Services' Tent/Stage Permit and Inspection at $100 per tent — both separate records on this page. Scope is unincorporated Guilford County plus the seven contract towns and the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority. Permitting: 336-641-3707.

Fire ABC Inspection

Guilford County Emergency Services charges $75 for the fire inspection that supports a State ABC permit application. The figure is on the 'ABC Inspection' line of the Guilford County FY2027 adopted budget fee schedule, adopted June 25, 2026, at $75.00 in each of the FY2025, FY2026 and FY2027 columns. The reason a fire inspection enters an alcohol application at all is statutory: G.S. 18B-901(c) provides that for a location to be a suitable place, 'the local governing body shall return a Zoning and Compliance Form to the Commission on a form provided by the Commission to show the establishment is in compliance with all applicable building and fire codes'. Building and fire are checked by different county offices and each charges its own $75, so a restaurant, coffee shop or retail store applying in the county's jurisdiction should budget $150 in county inspection charges for the sign-off: this fire inspection from Emergency Services, and the $75 ABC Permit line from Guilford County Inspections recorded separately on this page. Both are small relative to the State's charges under G.S. 18B-902(d), which are $400 for each of the six malt beverage and wine permits and $1,000 for a mixed beverages permit, with a further $400 annual registration and inspection fee for each permit held under G.S. 18B-903(b1). They are also separate from the county's own beer and wine retail license, which is a tax fixed by G.S. 105-113.78 rather than an inspection charge. The Fire Division's scope excludes the areas inside the city limits of Greensboro and High Point, where the city fire department performs and prices the equivalent inspection.

ABC Zoning and Compliance Form (local sign-off)

The Zoning and Compliance Form itself carries no fee; what Guilford County charges is for the inspection work behind it. G.S. 18B-901(c) provides that before issuing a permit the Commission must be satisfied the location is a suitable place, and that to be a suitable place 'the local governing body shall return a Zoning and Compliance Form to the Commission on a form provided by the Commission to show the establishment is in compliance with all applicable building and fire codes' and, if applicable, has been notified that it is located in an Urban Redevelopment Area; the Commission must also weigh 'The recommendations of the local governing body'. Which body that is turns on the address: G.S. 18B-901(b) directs the Commission to give notice of a retail application to the governing body of the city in which the establishment is located, and provides that 'If the establishment is not inside a city, the Commission shall give notice to the governing body of the county', with 15 days from mailing to file a written objection stating the facts on which it is based. So for a site in unincorporated Guilford County the county is the notified local governing body, while inside Greensboro or High Point it is the city. Special occasion, limited special occasion, temporary and special one-time permits are excepted from that notice requirement. The county's charges for the underlying work are $75 for the Inspections ABC Permit and $75 for the Emergency Services ABC Inspection, both on the adopted FY2027 fee schedule and both recorded separately on this page, so an applicant in the county's jurisdiction should budget $150 rather than treating the sign-off as free. The State's own application fees under G.S. 18B-902(d) run from $50 to $1,000, and the county's beer and wine retail license under G.S. 105-113.78 is separate again.

Shared with other businesses in Guilford County

• State Retail ABC Permit (NC ABC Commission) — North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission, $50–$1,000 per application, paid to the NC ABC Commission rather than to Guilford County, at the amounts G.S. 18B-902(d) sets: on-premises malt beverage $400.00, off-premises malt beverage $400.00, on-premises unfortified wine $400.00, off-premises unfortified wine $400.00, on-premises fortified wine $400.00, off-premises fortified wine $400.00, brown-bagging $400.00 (or $200.00 where the application is for a restaurant seating fewer than 50), special occasion $400.00, limited special occasion $50.00, mixed beverages $1,000, culinary $200.00, the permit continues while the annual registration under G.S. 18B-903(b1) is paid by May 1 each year; failure to pay that fee results in revocation of the permit. Also required for restaurants and coffee shops; what it involves is set out on the restaurants page.
• New Commercial Building Permit — Business, Mercantile or Retail — Guilford County Inspections Department, Adopted FY2027 fees, county-only: New Business, Mercantile, or Retail Structures base fee $100.00 per unit plus $0.25 per square foot per unit. New Industrial, Factory, High Hazard, or Storage Structures are priced the same, at a $100.00 base fee plus $0.25 per square foot. New Utility & Miscellaneous is a $75.00 base fee plus $0.25 per square foot, and New Commercial Residential / Multi-Family is $250.00 per dwelling unit. Applicable trade permits at $75.00 each and the $75.00 plan review fee are charged separately., per permit, for the new construction it covers. Also required for restaurants, coffee shops, salons and barbers, auto repair shops and veterinary clinics; what it involves is set out on the salons and barbers page.
• State ABC Annual Registration and Inspection Fee (NC ABC Commission) — North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission, $400 a year for each permit held, paid to the NC ABC Commission rather than to Guilford County; non-refundable, annual; G.S. 18B-903(b1) requires registration by May 1 of each year and states that 'Failure to pay the annual registration and inspection fee shall result in revocation of the permit'. Also required for restaurants and coffee shops; what it involves is set out on the restaurants page.
• Fire Protection System Plan Reviews — Guilford County Emergency Services, Fire Marshal's Office, Adopted FY2027 system plan review fees, county-only and unchanged across FY2025, FY2026 and FY2027: Water based Plan Review $125.00 per riser; Fire Alarm Plan Review $125.00 for 0-11,999 SF, $200.00 for 12,000-99,999 SF and $300.00 above 100,000 SF; Tank Plan Review $100.00 per tank; AES Plan Review $100.00; Hazmat Review $200.00 per system; and $100.00 per system for Industrial Oven Review, Emergency Radio System Review, Spray & Dipping Review, Smoke Control System Review, Solar System Review, Gates & Barricades Review and Pyrotechnic Magazine Review (the last also requiring a blasting permit)., one-off, per system review submission on the project. Also required for restaurants, coffee shops, auto repair shops, fitness studios and childcare centres; what it involves is set out on the childcare centres page.
• Tent and Stage Permit and Inspection — Guilford County Emergency Services, Fire Marshal's Office, $100 per tent, county-only (adopted FY2027 fee schedule line 'Tent/Stage Permit and Inspection (per tent)', unchanged at $100.00 across FY2025, FY2026 and FY2027), per event, for the tent or stage installation it covers. Also required for restaurants, coffee shops, food trucks and fitness studios; what it involves is set out on the food trucks page.
• Special Use Permit — Guilford County Planning & Development, $500 per case, county-only, plus a $26 recording fee for up to 15 pages — the Planning and Development fee schedule effective 1 July 2026 itemises '$500.00 Per Case / Plus Recording Fee' with footnote 1 setting the recording fee at $26, and the adopted FY2027 budget fee schedule states the same total as a bundled 'Special Use Permit/Case + Recording Fee $526.00', one-off, per case; the permit attaches to the approved use and the recording fee covers recording the order. Also required for childcare centres, veterinary clinics, auto repair shops, fitness studios and restaurants; what it involves is set out on the auto repair shops page.
• ABC Permit (Guilford County Inspections) — Guilford County Inspections Department, $75 per ABC permit inspection by Inspections, county-only (adopted FY2027 fee schedule line 'ABC Permit', unchanged at $75.00 across FY2025, FY2026 and FY2027), per application, at the point the county signs off on the premises. Also required for restaurants and coffee shops; what it involves is set out on the coffee shops page.