LOS ANGELES—The dwindling landscape of adult book and video shops in the United States shrunk by one this week, with the closing of Ace Adult Video in Bay City, Michigan, according to a report by the M-Live news site. The shop had done business in the city of 33,000, about two hours north of Detroit, for nearly five decades.
But Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s March 16 health order in response to the coronavirus pandemic closed businesses across the state, including adult establishments. According to the M-Live report, it remains unclear whether the shutdown caused the permanent closure of Ace Adult Video.
The site reported that Diane Dunn of Owosso, Michigan, is listed as he business’s treasure, while Texas resident David Schoch is named as president of the company that owned the now-shuttered adult bookstore.
When an M-Live reporter contacted Dunn, she would say only that “all businesses close eventually.” The reporter’s calls to Schoch reached a disconnected number, and he did not respond to messages conveyed online.
Bay City’s Downtown Development Director Suzanne Maxwell told the site that while the adult bookstore may not have been “a good fit” with the downtown business district, “it’s always sad to see a business close, as it does affect the livelihoods of its owner and employees. Perhaps there is a better place other than downtown Bay City for this type of business.”
She said that Ace Adult Video complied with city ordinances, and was rarely the subject of complaints from residents or other business owners. Other Bay City officials told the site that they could not recall any complaints at all about the adult business.
“It’s under the radar,” city commissioner Jesse Dockett told M-Live. “I think it’s been here so long that people just kind of got used to it. It was quiet and they kind of kept to themselves.”
The final shuttering of the Bay City adult shop is just one of numerous recent closings of adult establishments across the country. Earlier this year, the Oregon Theater — the last remaining adult cinema in Portland, Oregon — closed its doors after 95 years in business, the last five decades screening only porn.
A decade ago, in St. Paul, Minnesota, that city saw its only adult bookstore shut its doors for the last time. The owner of the Denmark adult book and video shop blamed a faltering economy, the internet, and “ridiculous” local zonig laws for the shutdown,
Photo By Andrew Jameson / Wikimedia Commons
