Omaha- from www.omaha.com – Two lingerie and adult novelty stores have opened within two blocks and two months of each other in the Old Market, sparking debate about the area’s identity:

Is it still a mix of eclectic businesses, or has it evolved entirely into a family-focused tourist attraction?

One neighboring business owner worries that his restaurant will become associated with a sex shop and complains that kids eating on the restaurant’s outdoor patio have to look at tacky lingerie on a cart pulled out to the sidewalk.

The lingerie store owners say that they aren’t doing anything illegal and that the availability of adult toys such as vibrators at mainstream retailers such as Wal-Mart, Walgreens and Spencer’s Gifts shows widespread acceptance.

They also say that they’ve moved or are moving the more potentially offensive products to lower-level displays to prevent children from seeing them.

But restaurant owner Gayle Carstens doesn’t want them even near his Old Market restaurants.

“All of a sudden, they are popping up, and it’s right next to me,” said Carstens, whose Stokes Grill and Bar is immediately south of one store. “It’s gone too far. We don’t need this in the Old Market.”

Basic Tease Boutique opened in early June at 512 S. 13th Street, southwest of Howard and 13th Streets.

Sugar Daddy’s opened in July as a candy store at 415 S. 12th Street, northeast of Howard and 12th, next to Stokes. Owner Dale Weinstein said he added lingerie and adult novelties a few weeks later because of slow candy sales.

Weinstein, a co-landlord of his building, said he chose adult items because he didn’t want to compete with his tenants: Stokes, City Limits card and gift shop, Billy Frogg’s Bar and Grill and Homer’s music store.

“So I had to do something a little bit off the wall,” said Weinstein, who operated Crawdad’s Furniture for 30 years in the corner bay now occupied by Stokes.

He said he is aware of Carstens’ distaste for the new merchandise, but only one couple walking past the store expressed similar feelings, commenting on the lingerie cart.

Weinstein said the cart is no different from Victoria’s Secret displays at malls. More risqué items — bachelorette party novelties, vibrators and massage oils — are on the lower level, out of view from children. Products sold upstairs include white and hot pink feather boas and signs reading “Princess Parking Only: All others will be towed” and “Pimp Plaza.”

Weinstein said his off-the-wall items are more consistent with the Old Market’s roots than people might realize.

“The Old Market wasn’t always restaurants,” he said. “It was originally head shops.”

Tamara Heasler-Webster, president and owner of Basic Tease, said that after five years at 120th and Blondo Streets she decided to move to the Old Market area because she thought it would have more foot traffic and a more diverse crowd to boost sales. Despite a list of 950 people who signed up to receive e-mail alerts from the store, sales had become flat.

She was surprised to find that two landlords refused to lease to her because of what she sells — mostly costumes such as school girl, French maid and nurse uniforms, as well as vinyl thigh-high boots and string bikinis. She also sells bachelorette party items, couples games and adult toys, which make up less than a third of her inventory.

Heasler-Webster said she only recently added vibrators because customers were asking for them. While they now are displayed toward the back of the 1,000-square-foot store, she plans to move them downstairs once remodeling is complete. She made the decision, she said, because as a mother of an 11-year-old she felt it was the responsible thing to do to, in addition to a parental advisory notice on the door.

She said she has received no complaints or negative comments since opening.

Tracy Rushlau, manager of Julio’s restaurant next door, said that while a few customers have made comments about the new neighboring business, none seemed upset by it.

“She does seem to have a lot of traffic,” Rushlau said. “I don’t think it’s a problem.”

Restaurateur Carstens said he is upset because he has made a huge investment in not only Stokes but also the Twisted Fork Grill & Bar, 1014 Howard St., and worries how the nearby retailers could hurt his business.

He said he is talking to Billy Frogg’s owner John Feddin, who is his landlord along with Sugar Daddy’s Weinstein, to try to get Sugar Daddy’s to move or close. If that doesn’t work, he might go to the Old Market Business Association to gather support, he said.

Feddin could not be reached for comment.

Joe Gudenrath, executive director of the Downtown Improvement District, said one Old Market business owner whom he declined to name alerted him to Sugar Daddy’s.

The district, created by a 2006 city ordinance, is not intended to be a neighborhood association but to focus on making downtown Omaha cleaner, greener and safer through public safety, maintenance and beautification projects, he said.

“We want this area to grow and expand and become more vibrant and more welcoming,” Gudenrath said. “And from what I have heard, there’s concern that such a business could drag the downtown into the opposite direction. … We’re not actively involved. We will monitor the situation, and it’s not clear if we would get involved or not.”

Not everyone thinks the businesses would hurt the Old Market or that the Old Market has a family-only feel.

While walking in the Old Market one recent afternoon with two friends, 19-year-old Jed States of Concordia, Kan., said he wasn’t aware of the two lingerie and adult novelty stores. States, a sophomore at Nebraska Christian College in Papillion, said that even though the Old Market has “classy restaurants” and a touristy feel, adult-themed stores seemed to actually fit in, not stick out.

“I’d say the Old Market’s more edgy,” he said.

Mike Fratt, general manager of Homer’s, which done business in the Old Market since 1971, said the district once had a more diversified mix of retailers, restaurants and nightclubs.

But as more residents have moved into condominiums, noise complaints drove out nightclubs with live music, he said. Lower rents and new developments elsewhere in the metro area have led to fewer retailers, Fratt said. The result, Fratt thinks, is that the Old Market has too many restaurants and not enough retail — a mix that he said has hurt foot traffic at Homer’s.

“The Old Market has always had a unique identity, and so if these (adult) retailers are viable and it’s bringing traffic to the Old Market, great,” Fratt said. “I don’t see how the lingerie store suddenly changes the dynamic of the Old Market. That dynamic is already there.

“There’s indie record stores and new agey gift shops. … It’s a tourist place, and families certainly come there to enjoy the unique environment, but that doesn’t mean it’s become G-rated.”

The mainstreaming of things like vibrators shows that society in general isn’t G-rated either, Fratt said. “While that may really ruffle the feathers of some people, that’s the way it is.”

Jeff Jorgensen, co-owner of Tannenbaum Christmas Shop at 1007 Howard St., said he had noticed the new businesses but did not know what they sold. He was hesitant to react without knowing details but said he was pleased that the stores were devoid of flashing “XXX” signs.

“This is a very mixed neighborhood with lots of variety, and that’s a lot of what has given it character over the years,” he said. “At the same time, I think people generally have worked hard to be good neighbors.”