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from www.cincinnati.com – Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt said Thursday he hopes to open a new Hustler Hollywood store in downtown Cincinnati by the end of October.
He said he decided to open the store on East Seventh Street because a larger Hustler Hollywood in Monroe, north of Cincinnati, is his most successful retail outlet in the country and he believes there is enough demand to support another in Cincinnati.
Flynt said he’s not worried about competition from the other Hustler store downtown, which is operated by his estranged brother Jimmy Flynt. The brothers have been feuding for years and have battled in court for control of the Hustler name and assets, which include the magazine, pornographic video production, websites and about a dozen retail stores across the country.
Jimmy Flynt has said the new downtown store is meant to put him out of business, but Larry Flynt said the move makes good business sense.
He said the Monroe store makes about $1.5 million a year and is more successful than any other Hustler Hollywood, including those in bigger cities. He said Cincinnati’s conservative reputation and past obscenity cases – including his own famous battles with Hamilton County Sheriff Simon Leis – have scared away potential competitors.
“The reason Cincinnati is such a good market for us is there’s not a lot of competition,” Larry Flynt said. “Si Leis has kind of seen to that.”
He said the new store will be run by his daughter, Theresa Flynt, and will sell sex toys, lingerie and other adult products. He said it will not sell sexually explicit videos, which in the past have been the focus of obscenity prosecutions.
“We’re going to proceed with caution,” Flynt said.
The store must get a sexually-oriented business license from the city, which subjects it to a fee, background checks for employees and some other requirements. But law enforcement officials in Cincinnati and Hamilton County have said they expect no other hurdles to stand in the store’s way unless the building has structural problems or Flynt runs afoul of obscenity laws sometime after opening.
“He can do anything he wants,” said Hamilton County Proscutor Joe Deters. “As long as he doesn’t break the law, I could care less.”
Sheriff Leis could not immediately be reached for comment.
Larry Flynt said the feud with his brother was not the reason he chose to open a new store downtown, although he currently is fighting in court to force Jimmy Flynt to stop using the Hustler name and is trying to evict him from his location on Elm Street downtown.