Ohio- Somewhere out there, Larry Flynt is smiling. Why? Because despite more than 25 years of battling Hamilton County Sheriff Simon Leis, Flynt’s Hustler Hollywood store across the county line in Monroe is his best-producing outlet in the country. Better than San Diego, Los Angeles or Nashville.
Opened in 2000 as a prototype for seven Hustler Hollywood outlets that have sprouted across the country, the 7,000-square-foot Monroe store is the opposite of what most people think of when they picture an “adult” emporium.
Brightly lit and employing the kind of cheery, shopping-friendly soundtrack you might find at the Gap or J. Crew (Sting, All-American Rejects, Cher), the store has associates who greet you at the door and offer to help you find whatever it is you’re looking for.
Following the counterclockwise set-up, visitors are first led through the Hustler-branded apparel, quickly moving from collectible logo shot glasses ($4.99) to T-shirts with the store’s motto, “Relax, It’s Just Sex” ($19.99), and messenger bags with Hustler in gothic script ($39.99).
The apparel section also features everything from underwear and outerwear such as hooded zip-up sweatshirts ($59.99).
The back section of the store features a head-spinning array of vibrators and other sexual aids as well as adult DVDs, broken down into genre (instructional, classic, anime, artcore, gay, etc.), with prices that range from $9.99 to $39.99 and five-disc box sets that can put you back $49.99.
Like the sampling stations at your grocery, on the day we visited the store even had an employee behind a table with several adult toys available for demonstration.
Moving around the store with purpose on a recent Saturday afternoon, 29-year-old Dayton resident Megan Stanley says she comes to the store “a lot.” Grabbing a Hustler-brand shirt and some underwear off a rack as her boyfriend lingers nearby, Stanley says she is forgoing the toy section today because she’s in a hurry.
“I like their selection of toys, and it has a really nice atmosphere, and the people who work here really know their products,” says Stanley, who drops “around $200” each time she visits.
Store manager Scott Waxman says the clientele is “about 50/50” male and female and, as evidenced on our visit, couples like to browse together.
In addition to gag gifts, condoms ($6.99 for a three pack of Hustler XXX ribbed) and dozens of types of personal lubricant (7-ounce tropical fruit-flavored, $9.99) and massage oil, the store carries lingerie, naughty board games and a variety of rhinestone-studded jewelry and purses.