Sex toys don’t sell themselves.

Richard Osburn, owner of the sexual novelty store Naughty But Nice, said even his business lived by the mantra “Location, location, location.” Osburn said that’s why he planned to fight any efforts by the city to make him move his business from its five-year home at 1741 Mass.

“I’m going to tell them, ‘Let’s go to court,'” Osburn said.

In 2000, the City Commission approved regulations regarding sexually oriented businesses – everything from novelty stores to sexually explicit movie theaters – requiring them to be located along a state highway.

Massachusetts Street is not a state highway. But existing businesses were given five years to change their focus or move. That deadline arrives July 31.

Scott Miller, an attorney with the city, said City Hall had not issued any official notification that it was time for businesses to comply with the regulations. Miller said he was reviewing all businesses that could fall under the regulations and determining if they complied with the city code.

He declined to say when the review would be complete or name all the businesses that were being looked over.

Adults only

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City Commissioner Mike Rundle said the city should enforce the code, noting the business does not allow people younger than 18 to enter.

“If it is valid to not let young people shop there, then our law should be valid requiring them to be located in a place where they are more likely to be accessed only by adults,” Rundle said.

Osburn said he didn’t want to move because there was no guarantee his customers would follow. And he said he was not convinced the city’s regulations met legal muster.

“This is a legal business, and the city told me this was a legal place to operate a business,” Osburn said. “The burden of proof is on them to prove to me that they can force me to leave.”

Miller said state law specifically gave cities the ability to “gradually” phase out sexually oriented businesses that have become “non-conforming” establishments because of changes in a city code.

Osburn said underage shoppers didn’t try to frequent the shop. He also said he had tinted the windows so pedestrians couldn’t see in and had changed the business’ signage after some neighbors complained about the graphics on the original.

• 6News video: Local adult shop owner prepares to fight city code (07-14-05)
• Sound off: Naughty But Nice (12-17-04)
• New adult store stirring concern (12-16-1999)

Neighbors mixed

That’s not enough for some neighbors. Mike Johnson, who lives at the corner of 17th and Massachusetts streets, said the business didn’t fit the neighborhood.

“You can make a judgment about whether it fits the geography,” Johnson said. “It is a stone’s throw from a grade school. We moved here in 1998 before they moved into that location, and I feel like it has devalued my property.”

The store is near Cordley School, 1837 Vt.

But some other neighbors said the business did not bother them.

“You really don’t even know it is there,” said Conrad Altenbernd, who lives in the 1700 block of Vermont Street. “We notice the gas station up the street more than we do Naughty But Nice.”

At least one other Lawrence business markets itself as a novelty store. Priscilla’s, 1206 W. 23rd St., meets the requirement of being located on a state highway because 23rd Street is also Kansas Highway 10.

But the city code also requires sexually oriented businesses to be at least 600 feet from residential properties, churches, schools, day cares, parks, community buildings, libraries and museums.

A manager at Priscilla’s said she did not think the store would be affected by the regulations because it did not sell the specific type of items that qualified it as a sexually oriented business.