PORTLAND, ME — Although Wikipedia assures the world that Maine is most famous for its scenery, at least one parent is decidedly unimpressed by what he was able to see when visiting one of the state’s Spencer’s Gifts. Although Spencer’s Gifts sells fairy charm jewelry, floral print wallets, Sesame Street t-shirts and Bob Marley flags, most people visit it for its more flamboyant items. Hot pink dance pole kits, under bed restraint systems, green laser kaleidoscopes, beer pong tables, jingle jugs and 1 liter beer boots nestle among the fart machines, lava lamps and other novelty items that attract both adult shoppers and curious browers. During the Halloween season, shops are typically adorned with costumes and characters designed to set the pulse racing either with fear or desire.
Yet some still consider the intentionally edgy shop that boast of having “unique gift ideas for any and every occasion” and often blares industrial rock through its loud speakers to be the kind of place where sexually sensitive adults and minors of all ages should be able to freely roam – or it should be shielded with warnings so that everyone knows what’s on sale inside.
Such appears to be the case with one of the latest complaints against the chain, this time concerning a Maine Mall location which sells condoms and lube, two items that one shopper considers inappropriate.
Instead of mumbling “caveat emptor” and suggesting that the easily shocked mall walker visit a nice safe Hallmark store, South Portland instead decided to revise its laws concerning how exactly to define an adult business.
According to the Press Herald, the sole complainant urged City Hall to reclassify Spencer’s Gifts so that it would be defined as an adult business that denies entry to any person younger than 18 years of age. Likewise, proposals developed after this single complaint would require that any company that includes “sexual devices” as more than 10-percent of its stock either post warning signs in front of business locations, making sure that everyone who can read knows that they’re available, or place them in an area where minors are disallowed.
After months of discussion on the matter, Kevin Mahoney, legal council for Spencer’s, insists that the company is in compliance with the proposed regulations. He also points out that “Many mainstream retailers are carrying these products” and contends that Spencer’s is being unfairly targeted.
City Council members met recently to discuss the proposed changes to existing laws, including removing condoms from the list of “sexual devices” since it would automatically define an establishment as adult and, therefore, qualify pharmacies and supermarkets as such.
“We tried to find a fair and reasonable compromise,” police Sgt. Steve Webster assured the Press Herald, when discussing the one complaint made last fall, which would have made Spencer’s Gifts the only business within the city to require an adult business license due to its sale of condoms and lubricant.
Although the proposal changes the definition of an “adult amusement store” from one that carries a “substantial or significant” number of “sexual devices” to one that has more than 10-percent of stock or sales, it exempts contraceptives from the definition of “sexual device.”
Mahoney insists that only 1-percent of Spencer’s stock qualifies as sex toys and that the shop in question places theirs all the way in the back of the store, past two different warning signs and a window sticker cautioning shoppers about the “adult humor” intrinsic in many of the shop’s products.
