BROCKTON, MA — You know there’s a problem when even small-town America notices your bottom line is shrinking.While adult entertainment hasn’t yet tipped the needle into the red zone of commercial viability, few would deny an industry that once seemed recession-proof no longer is invincible. If there are doubts, ask the folks of Brockton, MA.
A decade ago, Brockton city fathers rushed to draft sexually oriented business laws that relegated adult entertainment venues to the outskirts of town. Now they’re wondering why they bothered. With the advent of the internet, the availability of pay-per-view television and the increasing popularity of home parties that offer adult merchandise as if it were Tupperware, the problem seems to have taken care of itself.
“The porn industry has all gone underground,” former Brockton Mayor John Yunits told The Daily News Tribune.
By “underground,” Yunits meant “off the streets and into homes.” Yunits was mayor of Brockton when city officials were at the peak of worrying about proliferating public smut. Today, Brockton harbors a lone adult shop. Nearby towns Wareham and Raynham likewise have one apiece, although the location in Raynham is more of a bar than a store.
It’s not just the dedicated adult stores that are disappearing, either. The adult section of general-audience video stores has become all but invisible, too.
“The whole industry has died out,” Massive Video owner Richie Graham told The Daily News Tribune. Massive Video once specialized in adult titles. Today its primary focus is on family oriented viewing.
Many small towns are finding there no longer is a need to attempt to zone adult entertainment out of business, according to former Raynham Selectman Gordon Luciano. While Luciano served on the town’s board, a court decision overturned Raynham’s zoning code as unconstitutionally restrictive. In the 10 years since then, one of the town’s two stores closed and the other became a meeting place for “sexually liberated adults.”
