MACON, Ga. – The now-defunct controversial strip club, Club Exotica, will be replaced by another adult business; this time it’s a 9,000 foot Adult Supercenter selling XXX videos and sex toys. Exotica was all but forced to close its doors in 2004, because county officials thought it was “not operating in good faith or in the best interests of the community.”
The large adult store — the county’s sole exclusive retailer of adult products — promises to be open 24 hours a day.
“[Club Exotica] was just a very different kind of business,” Gary Edinger, the Florida attorney speaking for the new owners, told the Macon Telegraph. “This is just a retail store. They're pretty quiet…the police don't typically bother them, and there's typically nothing to bother about.”
Club Exotica, which was run at the time by John Cornetta and Cornetta Enterprises, was a constant target of the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office. The two fought at almost every court level since the club’s opening in 2001. Officials raided the club in 2003, arresting 16 dancers. Cornetta hired lawyers for all of them. Two were acquitted, and the charges dropped against the rest. The club has most recently filed a petition to argue its case with the U.S. Supreme Court.
“There will be some things that we will watch,” said Bibb County Sheriff Jerry Modena. “We don't know exactly what they're going to put in there. ... As long as they stay within the law, then they'll have no problems with us."
Owners of the Adult Supercenter, a Florida-based company called Speedway Video Inc., applied for a business license on Tuesday, and will open the business as soon as they have it in hand.
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