Indianapolis- A new lingerie store opened in Old Towne Greenwood without the blessing of Mayor Charles Henderson. While some City Council members at their meeting Monday night wished Michelle Kuntz good luck with her new store, Henderson did not.
“It is not the kind of business we want and I hope you are offended enough not to open,” Henderson said, addressing Kuntz during the well-attended meeting. “I don’t think the intention is to sell lingerie.”
The Council passed a new ordinance Monday that redefined an adult entertainment business. The new ordinance prohibits new stores from selling sex toys.
The ordinance was approved four hours after Kuntz’s store opened. Kuntz said she obtained a retail merchant license Nov. 15.
Rumors from two churches had circulated that Kuntz, 36, Greenwood, planned to open a sex toy store on Main Street east of Madison Avenue, Henderson said.
A review of city ordinances found nothing to prohibit the store from selling sexual toys or aids. The city moved quickly to amend an existing ordinance regulating the adult entertainment businesses. Added was a section to regulate businesses that sell items and products for use in specified sexual activities.
Council member Keith Hardin said the new ordinance was not aimed at Kuntz, but to fix a loophole in the city’s ordinance.
Kuntz said Tuesday that the ordinance doesn’t apply to her.
“It’s a lingerie store,” Kuntz said of her business, XO Paradise. She said she has a three-year lease with an option for six more, and that she has been redecorating the shop since mid-September.