HUSTLER Hollywood opening adult ‘lifestyle boutique’ at former ABC Liquors on North Monroe – Tallahassee.com

HUSTLER Hollywood — an adult entertainment franchise founded by Larry Flynt — is expanding its Florida presence with the opening of a new boutique store in Tallahassee. 

The local store replaces a former ABC Liquors at 2750 N. Monroe St, and represents the company’s 33rd store nationwide. HUSTLER Hollywood, based in Beverly Hills, California, spent $1.1 million renovating the 8,000 square-foot space and signed a 10-year lease with the option to extend on the lot. 

Lumber Salisbury LLC, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, purchased the 1.6-acre lot for $1.1 million in February from ABC Properties LTD in Orlando, property records show. 

“The company projects that it will have 35 stores by the end of 2019 and has been pursuing an aggressive expansion plan since 2016,” HUSTLER said in a statement to the Tallahassee Democrat. “Its boutiques are designed to be intimate, sophisticated and curated with only the finest, top-selling pleasure products on the market for those looking to enhance their intimacy.”

Passersby can spot the store’s towering sign from Monroe Street. The store sits away from the curb and its inventory can’t be easily seen from the outside. 

Doors open Saturday but an official celebration party is slated for 6 p.m. Sept. 13 with games, drinks and giveaways. The free event is open to the public. 

In 1968, the HUSTLER Hollywood empire was born from a cocktail lounge in Dayton, Ohio, by Flynt, who became a self-proclaimed crusader for the First Amendment’s right to free speech when the U.S. Supreme Court sided with him over televangelist and political figure Jerry Falwell, who sued HUSTLER magazine over an incestuous parody involving his mother.

More: How 1968 helped Larry Flynt build a pornography empire

The magazine has published monthly since 1974 and recently celebrated its 45th anniversary. 

In addition to Rick’s Toy box, HUSTLER Hollywood will be the second adult store within about a mile of I-10 on North Monroe Street. The street has become something of a sex store corridor. Luv’n Time also operated for decades before closing. 

The HUSTLER site is zoned Commercial Parkway, which allows for retail uses, said Karen Jumonville, who heads the city’s Growth Management Department. 

Principal uses allowed within the district zoning include a laundry list of commercial options, including antique shops, cocktail lounges, banks, hotels, nursing homes and pawn shops — and adult stores. 

Contact TaMaryn Waters at [email protected] or follow @TaMarynWaters on Twitter. 

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