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DOWNTOWN ADULT VIDEO STORE VIDEO BLUE SOLD IN RAPID CITY,SD
By: Keith Witchka, Staff Writer - 03-22-10 - 12:00 a.m. PDT
Email Keith@JRLChartsonline.com
It isn't often that the closing of a downtown business is welcomed by neighbors, but that's the case in the situation with Video Blue of Rapid City,SD.Video Blue, an adult bookstore at 510 Main St.,will officially close their doors on April 5, 2010.
Clancy Kingsbury, owner of First Chance Last Chance Games next door to Video Blue Adult bookstore, stated that he was pleased by the news of the sale.
He went further on to say that he hopes the new owners will renovate the property.
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"It'd be nice if they changed the windows so that you could actually see into the building," Kingsbury said. "The rest of the buildings on that block look really nice."
This winter Kingsbury renovated his game shop at 508 Main St., which was formerly another Video Blue Adult bookstore. Remodeling the entrance and hanging a sign designed to look like the historic sign at the First Chance Last Chance Saloon that operated there long ago.
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The buyers of the location do not plan to keep the business as an adult bookstore, said Video Blue owner Tom Holway. The buyer's identity and the sale price are being kept confidential until the sale is final.
Holway's father first opened the shop in 1976 and Holway took over in 1999. In December 09' he put the property on the market, saying adult-oriented business ordinances passed in 2003 have made it harder to stay in business. "They're driving everyone to the Internet," he said at the time.
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The laws forced Video Blue Adult Bookstore to close between 2 a.m. and 8 a.m. and prohibited on-premise viewing of adult videos in "arcades," or booths, Holway said. Even Holway's agent, Duane Hosek, said the news of the store closing would probably be viewed as a good thing.
"There will be a lot of people pretty happy," he said. "I'm sure there were a lot of people over the years that didn't appreciate that building being downtown."
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Hosek was the seller's agent for another downtown adult bookstore, the Monument, which closed a few years ago in the 900 block of Main Street, he said. Hosek said he anticipates prices to rise in the area of downtown near Video Blue, with the city considering plans to build a public plaza at the corner of Sixth and Main streets.
Wednesday afternoon Holway was at his shop listening to George Thorogood and trying to round up a tall ladder to hang a banner announcing his going-out-of-business sale.
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He said he's marking everything down 50% so that he can sell it instead of having to send it back to distributors, including magazines, videos and lingerie. "As soon as this banner goes in, it's all going to go quick," he said.
He stated he didn't have immediate plans for what he would do next. "Definitely not going to sit there and fight with society like this," Holway said.There will be just one adult bookstore left in Rapid City, Angie's on East North Street.
