Our View | Will Sex Sell in Old Town?

THURSDAY, JANUARY 15 2009 > UPDATED THURSDAY, JANUARY 22 2009
By Times Staff

Where does one draw the line between business and pleasure? There is no such line at 210 King St., where the new “lingerie and gifts” shop, Le Tache, has made its home. While offensive to some, it is a legitimate new business.

Murmurings from the community have ranged from outrage to yawns in the week since the shop, which sells adult entertainment products, has opened. Bluntly, it is a sex shop — something out of  Amsterdam’s red-light district, a stark contrast to the historic and pristine brick-lined streets of Old Town.

 

Does it fit with Old Town’s traditional business landscape? No. It is sandwiched between two high-end art galleries and doors away from Why Not?, a children’s toy store. Will Le Tache make some people feel uncomfortable? Yes. Sex is a personal and intrinsically touchy subject for many, especially any  Alexandrians uncomfortable with the store’s palpability. 

But this store replaces a hunting store, one that sold and traded in firearms. For some, the notion of hunting, or any use of firearms, is as offensive as sex is to others. Across the street is a retailer specializing in harmful tobacco products.  Where do we as society draw the line? And for those who might chastise the city for approving Le Tache’s business license, do we want the city to draw that line for us?

At its base Le Tache is a business. City officials have stressed the importance of small businesses, hailing them as the backbone of Alexandria’s economy. The shop went through the city’s vetting process for a new business and passed. Like it or not, the city determined that it is a legitimate, tax-paying small business.

While the business may be legitimate, so are the issues it presents for the community. Some parents are concerned with the shop’s proximity to a toy store. Others worry about tarnishing city’s image. In the real world though, a market for the store’s products exists even if they are jarring to some.

From its display window on King Street, Le Tache parades an arrangement of lingerie no more blatant than the Victoria’s Secret store at Pentagon City.  Once inside, age identification is required to enter the more adult-oriented portions of the store for those who seek those products. And, while King Street is a prime location for the city’s revelers, there is a place more accessible than even Le Tache should any one want to look at such products — whether of legal age or not. It is perhaps one of the most unregulated institutions in the world: the Internet.

 

The issue here is not whether or not one agrees with the products sold at Le Tache. Like any other business in Alexandria, it is the consumer who will ultimately decide if this type of retail shop is appropriate for Old Town. Le Tache will survive, and perhaps even thrive, if there is a market to support it. 

Is there enough of an interest in Old Town in adult entertainment products to sustain this type of store? Only time will tell what kind of success Le Tache will have. But the market will play out and perhaps in the process teach the community about ourselves as well.

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Reader Comments

admin
10:05 a.m.
March 02, 2009

Through recent articles and neighborhood strolls, I've followed the brouhaha surrounding one of our newest retail neighbors - Le Tache. The reaction I see in ink and along King Street is wide ranging. People stop and chuckle, and by all accounts, they're shopping for erotic goods. Yet The Washington Post reports that "Alexandria Commonwealth's Attorney S. Randolph Sengel said his office has received enough complaints about the store that he is looking at legal options."

Clearly, elected officials are under20intense pressure to respond. I just hope they'll do so judiciously. It concerns me when I see Sengel adding that "Virginia law allows for courts to declare sexual material obscene and to ban its sale."

Do we really want to be known as the town that bans lingerie? Or the town that shuts down successful small businesses while the nation borders on a depression?

I've seen Virginians propose absurd laws before. Think back to the baggy-pants bill that circulated in Richmond a few years ago. The press has a heyday with this stuff, and I for one am tired of making excuses for legislative extremes designed to repress the slightest variation in behavior or expression.

It's bad PR, and it's bad for community. If purported sales figures and reactions on the street are an indication, there's a spectrum of opinions about Le Tache. City leaders would be wise to look beyond the emails and facilitate a middle ground between the gawkers, the shoppers, and the outraged activists. We're all their constituents, and the entire region is watching.

Mark Lynn Ferguson
Alexandria Resident

admin
10:16 a.m.
March 02, 2009

Mayor Euille, Members of the City Council:

I read the Washington Post Article: In Old Town, The Sex Shop Is a Kiss-Off with some amusement, thinking it might be a kitschy piece.

However, I was shocked and dismayed at how the City has treated the Property Owner, and the business, La Tache.

Specifically, I take issue with Mayor Euille's comments: "'I believe it's an inappropriate business to be located in our old and historic district," Alexandria Mayor William D. Euille (D) said of Le Tache."

Considering the amount of vacant real estate I see in Old Towne and the Carlyle square these days, Alexandria should be courting businesses instead of chasing them off. I for one am tired of seeing the City Budget increase and my real estate tax rate increase every year to fund some misguided social program or another. Having more businesses in Old Towne filling that vacant space would be a welcome relief to the City's homeowners and diversify the City's tax base, making it better able to stand up to Recessions that we are in now.

Another issue I dislike regarding the city: "The city cannot act because the store is complying with the law. "There's nothing I can do to encourage its demise," the mayor said." But he added that city staff is drawing up proposed changes to zoning laws in hopes that future adult entertainment stores can be regulated. Le Tache would be grandfathered in."

Wonderful. Simply wonderful. So, even if a business in the City is following the law, the City is going to harass it until it leaves. Nice thinking. Let's let even more of the vacant storefronts in King Street sit empty due to stupidity in the City Council.

I also recommend putting a muzzle on the Alexandria Commonwealth's Attorney, S. Randolph Sengel. Again, according to the article: "Alexandria Commonwealth's Attorney S. Randolph Sengel said his office has received enough complaints about the store that he is looking at legal options. Virginia law allows for courts to declare sexual material obscene and to ban its sale, he said. "What is acceptable in one community might not meet the standard in the neighboring community," Sengel said."

This is simply ludicrous harassment of a LEGAL business. It's not like this store front is running a prostitution ring, or a gambling parlor, or even operating an illegal still. It's a LEGAL entity that is full compliance with local zoning laws, is licensed, and is even pulling people into the store to get them to shop there. It's a refreshing change from the Lawyer offices, the Antique Stores, the various

So, to put it simply, STOP any planned harassment of the store and BE HAPPY that there is an interesting store in a historic district that is starved for cash that is bringing people to the area.

TJ Parmele
Alexandria

SteveFoerster
noon
August 18, 2009

So basically, Alexandria is socially conservative yet economically leftist? Is there any kind of government intrusion that isn't welcome here?