[November 16, 2008] Adult DVD shop finds way to stay in business Tweet (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Nov. 16--One W. Brown Deer Road retailer has managed to stay in business despite a campaign to shut it down. Video Sophisticate, an adult video/DVD store at 9110 W. Brown Deer Road, was denied an occupancy permit in 2007 by the Milwaukee Common Council. That vote came after area residents and business owners said the store was a detriment to the area and that it made it more difficult to recruit new retailers to Brown Deer Road. Video Sophisticate opened in 1995. City officials didn't realize until last year that it had been operating without the proper occupancy permit because of a zoning ordinance enacted in 2001. Store owner Tony Dodge said he should be allowed to remain open, saying his store was not responsible for a decline in Brown Deer Road's retail strip. Last fall, he asked a judge for an injunction to prevent the city from closing his store. That effort failed. But Dodge later found a loophole by obtaining an occupancy permit to operate as a general retail establishment, said Sheri Urban, coordinator of the Granville-Brown Deer Chamber of Commerce, which helped lead the effort against Video Sophisticate. That permit allows Video Sophisticate to include adult products, as long as it also stocks mainstream videos and DVDs, Urban said. The store now sells and rents both types of videos and is still in business. To see more of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.jsonline.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]