BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The battle over a Romantic Depot store that recently opened in the heart of gentrified Brooklyn heated up after a small group of anti-sex-toy activists attempted to invoke an obscure zoning ordinance to shutter the location, while locals mocked them online and in person for their throwback prudishness.
As XBIZ reported last week, a small group of moralists led by a local realtor targeted the recently opened Clinton Hill branch of the Romantic Depot adult boutique chain, using outdated zoning regulations to argue that it should be treated as an “adult entertainment establishment” and not as a retail store.
The dildo-unfriendly activists were reportedly upset that the Romantic Depot store, the chain’s 11th in the tri-state area, had been classified as a “retail store” by the Department of Buildings. The minute-but-vocal group found this “misleading” and claimed that “the shop appears to be an ‘adult establishment’ by the advertisements in the windows,” the Bronx’s News 12 explained.
Last Friday, the group organized a protest in front of the Fulton St. location, but they were outnumbered by a sizable contingent of Brooklynites holding placards defending the Romantic Depot, sexual pleasure and even LGBTQ+ expression.
The mockery of the odd alliance of Neo-Victorian pearl-clutchers and NIMBY-minded realtors targeting the adult boutique also spilled over onto neighborhood watch app NextDoor, after one of them posted an item with the subject line “I am posting this as a concerned community resident regarding the sex shop located at 906 Fulton St., a former check-cashing spot.”
“This location is right in the backyard of our youth attending the high school a block away,” this supposed “concerned neighbor” continued. “They are using the image of [neighborhood hero] Biggie Smalls whom the youth look up to, enticing them on all levels.”
The responses, to put it mildly, were overwhelmingly sardonic.
“But they use [a] Biggie Smalls image,” a Park Slope resident replied. “Everyone wants to have sex with Biggie Smalls.”
“I agree wholeheartedly,” a Boerum Hill denizen concurred with mock sincerity. “I was walking with my daughter to that very high school. When we passed the store I saw her eyes focus on it — something was evidently not right. The very next day my daughter announce[d] to the family that she is transgender. I couldn’t believe it. Clearly Biggie Smalls is to blame.”
Departing from the shenanigans, a Prospect Heights resident encapsulated the absurdity of the campaign.
“Sorry darling,” they wrote. “We can’t keep dumbing society for the sake of innocent children. People need to educate their children so they can navigate the world without the rest of us suffering because of it. Sex shops, sex-positivity [are] a reality.”
