By Peter Berton

MONTREAL – Canadian gay adult brand Priape closed its four brick-and-mortar stores Oct. 21 following a government crackdown on the sale of products containing alkyl nitrites. Alkyl nitrites, typically marketed as leather cleaners in adult shops, are better known as “poppers,” a party drug reputed to have aphrodisiac properties.

Though legal to possess and use in Canada, products containing alkyl nitrites are classed as controlled substances and may not be sold without a pharmaceutical license. Unauthorized sale of the chemical compounds risks jail terms of up to three years plus fines of as much as $5,000 per conviction.

Priape, operating under bankruptcy protection since June 27, already was in financial trouble when Health Canada, the Canadian version of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, demanded unauthorized retailers stop selling poppers. According to Priape’s bankruptcy proposal to its creditors, in June the stores owed $687,650 to more than 100 creditors, including $28,709 to Mr S Leather, $35,347 to silicone toy manufacturer Ox Balls, $13,588 to clothing designer Timoteo and about $150,000 to credit card companies including American Express and Visa.

According to Canadian gay newspaper Daily Xtra, losing popper revenue hammered the final nail into Priape’s coffin.

Poppers “represented a huge amount of sales and profit, so that’s what triggered it all,” Priape General Manager Denis Leblanc told Daily Xtra. “It’s not so much percentage of sales but the gross profit [poppers] brought in, and proportionately it was very significant.”

Founded by Robert Duchaine in 1974, Priape began with a single Montreal location. The current owners, who have a minority stake in Maleflixxx Television, bought the company about 10 years ago. Because Priape stores have been a central fixture in Canada’s largest “gay villages” for nearly 40 years, news of the closings generated responses ranging from grief to outrage in the community.

The chain, which operated stores in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver, laid off 58 employees, but Leblanc said he remains hopeful that at least some of the stores will reopen. Priape.com remains operational.