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NEW LION'S DEN ADULT OUETLET PROMPTS RESIDENTS TO PETITION
By: Andy Powell, Staff Writer - 06-07-10 - 9:45 a.m. PDT
Email Andy@JRLChartsonline.com
Lion's Den Adult Superstores has just opened their 49th location serving the gay and hetero adult entertainment retail community. But it's not without controversy.
The new location located at 1178 West Frontage Road in the city of Owatonna, MN is being hit already by groups who are entering the scuffle over the new Lion's Den Adult Boutique location.
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Three separate groups have entered the fray, and could present the city council with dueling petitions two of which are against the new Lion’s Den Adult Boutique and another in support. Two young women Rachel Schmidt and Autumn Tomlinson, have said that they plan to circulate a petition asking the residents of Owatonna to give the Lion’s Den a fair chance.
The two said they decided to take action in response to another petition circulated by businessman Elliot Eisman that asks the council to remove the store by “any means necessary.”“It’s giving job opportunities to people in Owatonna. The economy is hurting, and there aren’t a lot of jobs around here,” Schmidt said. “It brought good business.
I just don’t think they’re looking at that aspect of it. They’re looking at the negative.” The recession severely impacted young workers across the nation.Over 2009, the nadir of the downturn, 14.7 percent of those aged 20 to 24 were unemployed, according to a report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unemployment rates for young adults aged 25 to 29 were slightly better, 10.6 percent. By contrast, only 7.2 percent of those aged 45 to 54 were out of work.
Schmidt knows firsthand how difficult the local job market is for young people. She was laid off last year and said finding a new job has been tough-going. “I went through temp agencies and I called and called. ‘We don’t have anything right now,’ that’s all they would say,” Schmidt said.
“I did resumes, applications, and they just said ‘We’ll get back to you.’” Schmidt was looking for something “recession proof,” so she started a new career as a Pure Romance consultant. Pure Romance sells “relationship aids” and “bedroom accessories” to women, mostly through meetings in private homes, a la the “Tupperware party.” When the Lion’s Den came to town, Schmidt applied. She had an interview on Friday.
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She is not alone. “When I was in there yesterday, I probably saw 10 to 15 people handing in applications and a wide range of ages from early 20s to 50s,” Schmidt said. The two also argue that the Lion’s Den provides entertainment in an otherwise dull town.“The younger adult population doesn’t have much to do. Owatonna will not let us have a dance club and the movie theater might go out of business,” Schmidt said. “The roller rink closed, so we’re not left with a lot of entertainment.”
“There’s nothing exciting, nothing fun,” Tomlinson said. “It’s not hurting anybody.” Basically, they said, it’s the bowling alley or a “night in.”That’s where the Lion’s Den comes in. In any case, they said, it’s a legitimate business that should not fall victim to what they characterize as “prudery.”
“They sell more than just bedroom accessories,” Schmidt said. “They sell Harley Davidson stuff, sports memorabilia, and Ed Hardy stuff.
These businesses are just turning their nose up at it and they’re not even giving it a chance.” The two have not yet written the petition, but they hope to draft it up and put it into circulation soon.
On the other end of the spectrum is Brace Baptist Church’s Rev. Andrew Burgraff. Burgraff said Wednesday that he was going to try and spur local religious leaders into action. “I’m going to be calling pastors myself to organize something — be it a petition as a group of churches or something else,” Burgraff said last week. “I found out about the Lion’s Den on Sunday as I drove to Culver’s after church, and I realized it would be important to take a moral stance and to discuss the objections people in town have to it.”
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However, he stressed that his efforts were not fueled by hostility towards the Lion’s Den or anyone who works there. “We love this community and the people in it. We love the businesses here and we don’t want to infringe on the freedom they have,” Burgraff said. “The council decided it was legally appropriate for them to be here.” Nevertheless, Burgraff said the store’s presence “saddened” him for two reasons. First, he considers the store a blight on the town’s reputation.
“We have been known as a family-promoting community and now as people drive down I-35 they see an adult boutique,” Burgraff said. “It saddens me that that’s the image we have with people from outside of Owatonna. We’re one of the only towns in the area that has one.”Eisman objected on similar grounds. He and his family moved here from the Twin Cities in the mid-1990s.
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“We got off at exit 42, and if we’d seen an adult boutique we would have gone right back to Plymouth,” Eisman said. “A couple of years ago there was an article in Minneapolis/St. Paul Magazine about the hidden gems of Minnesota, and Owatonna was one of them. Now we’re a truck stop with a porn shop.”
Secondly, Burgraff said that the contents of the store may actually harm people. “I do lots of counseling on marriages and sexual addictions. I don’t believe that anyone who goes in there is addicted but it makes (such items) more readily available to people and that could hinder homes and lives as they become consumed by these things,” Burgraff said.
Except for one factor that people against Lion's Den Adult Superstores is not talking about and that is, Lion's Den offers jobs and, their retail locations are always first rate! I have never been inside a Lion's Den adult superstore feeling as though I was in a dirty place. It's clean, state of the art and has the best customer service for their customer base.
Hopefully this matter will be over with quickly as Lion's Den has always represented the positive side of the Adult Film Industry. Lion's Den Adult Superstores operates 49 retail store locations nationwide and is a positive light which should be shined upon in this business and in the respective communities. They carry everything from Gay Adult DVDs to Hetero Adult DVDs, Novelties, sex games, male enchancers and much more. Visit www.lionsdenadult.com for more info on this mega retail chain.
