Attn BRTD: An article about sex shops, suburbs and Minnesota

[Joe Republic]

I think this article was written especially for you.


Link


Adult stores go from city streets to suburban strip malls

The family-owned Fantasy Gifts has found it easier to sell its inventory of sex toys, adult DVDs and lingerie in places such as Coon Rapids and Fridley, "where the people live."

Eric Hanson, Star Tribune
Last update: November 21, 2006 – 10:38 AM


Colleen Bertino laughs a little when she recalls the fates of the two Fantasy Gifts stores her family once owned in Minneapolis.

The downtown Minneapolis shop closed several years ago and reopened in Burnsville.

More recently, a store near the Uptown area of Minneapolis closed and lit out for the cheaper rent and more plentiful parking of Lakeville.

The burbs have been good to the Bertino family, owners of 13 sex-themed stores in Minnesota and New Jersey, most of them in strip malls -- or, in the case of the Coon Rapids store, a former Taco Bell.

The family still owns and operates two stores in St. Paul, but Bertino, the chief operating officer, said the migration over the past decade into Fridley and Coon Rapids, Burnsville and Bloomington, St. Louis Park and Crystal, was a conscious choice.

"I need to be where people live and where you can just pull up, park and walk in," she said. "Why do you think shopping doesn't do well downtown in general?"

The opening of the Lakeville shop 9 miles away from the nearest Fantasy Gifts in Burnsville meant 18 fewer driving miles for her customers in Northfield, she said.

When they opened a store in Burnsville, she said, a woman called and asked, "Do you really have a store in Burnsville?"Yes, we're right here," Bertino said.

"Great," said the woman on the line. "Now I'll never have to cross the river again."


Continued...

[MaC]

Damn, now sex shops won't be cool anymore since they've been suburbanized.  I guess we'll have to stop doing business there.

[opebo]

But does it have peepshow booths in the back?  Theatres for anonymous gay sex?  A hooker round the corner?

If not, it is, like everything else in the suburbs, a pale, lifeless imitation.

[KEmperor]

Theatres for anonymous gay sex?

What the hell kind of places are you going to?

[opebo]

Theatres for anonymous gay sex?

What the hell kind of places are you going to?

While I do not share their predelictions, I applaud their fight for freedom, KEmperor.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Minneapolis still has far more. That's probably why this is happening anyway, the market is too crowded. But Minneapolis will always have more.

And I doubt any of these places can compare to Minneapolis' mega-sex store, Sex World, which has two floors and a peepshow booth. And hookers are known to hang out in the alley near it and I hear a "massage parlor" is nearby, so opebo is pretty much right.

[WalterMitty]

Theatres for anonymous gay sex?

What the hell kind of places are you going to?

While I do not share their predelictions, I applaud their fight for freedom, KEmperor.

if youve had sex with another man, you are a gay.  period.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Theatres for anonymous gay sex?

What the hell kind of places are you going to?

While I do not share their predelictions, I applaud their fight for freedom, KEmperor.

if youve had sex with another man, you are a gay.  period.

Or a bisexual.

[WalterMitty]

Theatres for anonymous gay sex?

What the hell kind of places are you going to?

While I do not share their predelictions, I applaud their fight for freedom, KEmperor.

if youve had sex with another man, you are a gay.  period.

Or a bisexual.

such things do not exist...especially with men.

[Everett]

I still snicker at people who actually have to pay for sex.

[WalterMitty]

I still snicker at people who actually have to pay for sex.

ha!  so do i!

i sn even more when they say they dont *have* to pay, they *choose* to.  yeah right!

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

He's 38! 38 year olds can't get easy hook ups and if they do it's with lonely divorced middle aged women and that sort of thing, and I hardly blame opebo for only wanting to stick to them.

[Sam Spade]

Theatres for anonymous gay sex?

What the hell kind of places are you going to?

While I do not share their predelictions, I applaud their fight for freedom, KEmperor.

if youve had sex with another man, you are a gay.  period.

^^^^^^^^^^^

[WalterMitty]

He's 38! 38 year olds can't get easy hook ups and if they do it's with lonely divorced middle aged women and that sort of thing, and I hardly blame opebo for only wanting to stick to them.

most 38 year olds have other things going for them in their lives.

finding easy hookups isnt what life is all about, brtd.

everytime i watch 'to catch a predator' im always wondering if we will see opebo.

[Keystone Phil]

i sn even more

Racist

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

Theatres for anonymous gay sex?

What the hell kind of places are you going to?

While I do not share their predelictions, I applaud their fight for freedom, KEmperor.

if youve had sex with another man, you are a gay.  period.

Or a bisexual.

such things do not exist...especially with men.

Um, yes they exist. Contrary to what you believe, it IS possible to be attracted to both genders.

[ilikeverin]

Theatres for anonymous gay sex?

What the hell kind of places are you going to?

While I do not share their predelictions, I applaud their fight for freedom, KEmperor.

if youve had sex with another man, you are a gay.  period.

Or a bisexual.

such things do not exist...especially with men.

Clay doesn't exist? Poor Clay, I'll have to inform him of his nonexistence...

[Keystone Phil]

Theatres for anonymous gay sex?

What the hell kind of places are you going to?

While I do not share their predelictions, I applaud their fight for freedom, KEmperor.

if youve had sex with another man, you are a gay.  period.

Or a bisexual.

such things do not exist...especially with men.

Um, yes they exist. Contrary to what you believe, it IS possible to be attracted to both genders.

[KEmperor]

Theatres for anonymous gay sex?

What the hell kind of places are you going to?

While I do not share their predelictions, I applaud their fight for freedom, KEmperor.

if youve had sex with another man, you are a gay.  period.

Or a bisexual.

such things do not exist...especially with men.

Clay doesn't exist? Poor Clay, I'll have to inform him of his nonexistence...

YOU CANT DO THAT HE DOESN'T EXIST

[opebo]

I still snicker at people who actually have to pay for sex.

You mean men? 

[opebo]

Theatres for anonymous gay sex?

What the hell kind of places are you going to?

While I do not share their predelictions, I applaud their fight for freedom, KEmperor.

if youve had sex with another man, you are a gay.  period.

^^^^^^^^^^^

Hah, Sam Spade and WalterMitty are silly homophobes.  I wonder why? 

I certainly won't attempt to dispute your opinions, fellows, but suffice it to say many of us have tried it, but still strongly prefer the ladies.  Label as you wish, I'm sure most of my future sex - and certainly the more satisfying part - will be with females.

[ilikeverin]

Theatres for anonymous gay sex?

What the hell kind of places are you going to?

While I do not share their predelictions, I applaud their fight for freedom, KEmperor.

if youve had sex with another man, you are a gay.  period.

Or a bisexual.

such things do not exist...especially with men.

Clay doesn't exist? Poor Clay, I'll have to inform him of his nonexistence...

YOU CANT DO THAT HE DOESN'T EXIST

HELP

IT'S THE TWILIGHT ZONE

QUICK, EVERYONE HAVE REALLY RANDOM CAMERA ANGLES

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

Theatres for anonymous gay sex?

What the hell kind of places are you going to?

While I do not share their predelictions, I applaud their fight for freedom, KEmperor.

if youve had sex with another man, you are a gay.  period.

Or a bisexual.

such things do not exist...especially with men.

Clay doesn't exist? Poor Clay, I'll have to inform him of his nonexistence...

YOU CANT DO THAT HE DOESN'T EXIST

HELP

IT'S THE TWILIGHT ZONE

QUICK, EVERYONE HAVE REALLY RANDOM CAMERA ANGLES

DON'T FORGET THE DRAMATIC MUSIC AND A VOICE OVER BY ROD STERLING!

SUDDENLY THROBBING, BLACK DONGS. THOUSANDS OF THEM.