SANDY SPRINGS, Ga.—Adult-friendly "erotic boutique" chain Tokyo Valentino isn't having a good holiday season. In fact, it hasn't had a good one for nearly two decades, though things have escalated recently since the company opened its second location, this one in Sandy Springs, about a month ago. But the City of Atlanta is still trying to close the company's original location on Cheshire Bridge Road, which opened in 1998, with the city claiming that the store never obtained the proper permits to begin operations—a charge continually disputed by Tokyo Valentino's owner Michael Morrison. AVN wrote about the legal history of the Cheshire Bridge location here.
One good thing that's come out of that fight is that the city ditched anti-porn attorney Scott Bergthold as lead counsel in its legal battle, replacing him with someone more local.
Regarding the Sandy Springs location, Morrison had originally announced back in October that his new store would not be another Tokyo Valentino location.
"The store opening in Sandy Springs is not Tokyo Valentino," Morrison stated in a written message received by ReporterNewspapers.net on Oct. 21. "It’s called 'Dancer’s Elite Wear.'"
But no; when it came time to apply for a business license for the new facility shortly thereafter, Morrison requested an amendment to the business license and changed the name to "Tokyo Valentino" and sought a modification in the products and goods sold to include "smoking accessories, lingerie and a minimal percentage of adult goods."
Of course, it's the "adult goods" that drive Sandy Springs legislators crazy, and an inspection of the new store when it opened found, according to city spokesperson Sharon Kraun, that "more than 25% of the floor area is devoted to merchandise that has an 'emphasis upon the display of specified sexual activities.' She said that makes the store meet the code’s legal definition of an adult bookstore." Those would include mainly sex toys, though undoubtedly the city considers some of the lingerie to be in that category as well. After all, what decent citizen in Georgia would buy a crotchless panty?
But since then, things have escalated, and on Dec. 2, Kraun sent a Notice of Violation to the Sandy Springs store, claiming that it is in violation of the city's adult zoning ordinances, and giving Morrison until Friday, Dec. 20, to bring the store into compliance.
The city's ordinance defines an "adult bookstore" as any business that uses a quarter or more of its space, including aisles, for books, DVDs or other visual media that emphasize sexual activities, or toys and novelties that are used "in connection with specified sexual activities." But as far as Morrison is concerned, every time he tries to comply, the zoning board changes the rules.
"The goal is to get us shut down," he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "As we comply, they keep moving the finish line back."
Moreover, Morrison claims that the city's inspector "counted unrelated items like lingerie, douches and risque board games as adult materials," and "didn’t count dressing rooms, behind-the-counter areas and other floor space in the total square footage."
But as of Dec. 20, for every day the store is out of compliance, the city can levy $1,000 per day fines on it.
Still, Morrison intends to fight to keep his store open and intact.
"It’s just farcical at this point," Morrison said of Sandy Springs’ apparent antipathy to any business with even a tinge of adult products. "We’ve been open for two weeks."
Pictured: Tokyo Valentino's Sandy Springs location
