Murfreesboro, Tennessee- A new adult video store that sells lingerie and sex-toy devices on Northwest Broad Street is upsetting nearby business managers.

“I’m not happy that it’s there,” said David Curtze, vice president of a commercial and industrial general contracting company, Rose Integrated Services. “I don’t feel it’s an appropriate location. This is the entrance to Murfreesboro. I think it opens the door for more stores like this to congregate in this area.”

His office is located near “21 Up Movies & More” at 2209 N.W. Broad Street. In addition to videos, the store sells adult magazines, and people can become members with a credit or debit card, a man working there said.

He and a female co-worker would not identify the owner and said that person would not be available for comment.

The owner is R.V. Bohannon, according to a Rutherford County business permit issued Sept. 21. The record listed the company name as Sisters’ Properties.

Curtze said the adult video store that opened last Thursday surprised many people operating nearby businesses. He wants Murfreesboro city staff to enforce codes that require adult entertainment to be located in industrial areas instead of a commercial area like much of Broad Street.

The city’s planning and legal departments are researching the adult entertainment business, Murfreesboro Mayor Tommy Bragg said Tuesday afternoon.

“We’re trying to look into it to see if it’s a legitimate business and if it has the correct zoning to operate a business there,” Bragg said.

Messages were left for Murfreesboro Assistant City Attorney David Ives Tuesday, but he was not available for comment.

Adult entertainment businesses should not be within 1,000 feet of parks or places that sell alcohol or serve children, Curtze said.

The city’s codes for sexually oriented businesses restrict adults-only stores to Heavy Industrial Districts. They are also prohibited within 1,000 feet of a residence, park, day care, school or businesses licensed to sell alcoholic beverages.

The adult business is not far from Stones River National Battlefield. It also appears to be within 1,000 feet of a business that provides instruction for children, Dance Works at 2261 N.W. Broad St., and a Shell gas station that sells beer at 2125 N.W. Broad.

Those first entering Dance Works will notice small children’s ballet outfits and leotards, and that’s a contrast to the exotic lingerie people can spot behind the glass door at 21 Up Movies & More.

Others are upset by the adult business, including Ronn Elliott, branch manager for Ladd Engineering Associates at 2213 N.W. Broad St.

“It’s not good for our clientele to come to our office and say you have an adult video store next door,” said Elliott, whose company provides consulting services for telecommunication firms.

He’s worried that the store could cause more crime “because of the type of people that frequent those businesses.”

“It kind of reminds me of Nashville’s Dickerson Pike,” said Elliott, who grew up in the Madison area and recalled how it used to be nice in the 1960s before adult entertainment moved in. Dickerson Pike now has prostitution and other crime problems, he said.

Elliott also said the adult video business surprised him.

“We thought (before it opened) it might be a restaurant,” Elliott said. “We did not know what it was until the sign went up.”

Elliott and Curtze both said they leased their offices at the 2200 block of Northwest Broad Street because it has great access to state Route 840 and Interstate 24.

Curtze said he wouldn’t have located his office in the Broad Street building had he known an adult entertainment business would be operating there.

“It’s not the neighborhood I want to be in,” said Curtze, noting that customers sometimes drop by his office to discuss $5 million to $10 million construction contracts.