ETOBICOKE: Business booming at strip club
No incidents of drugs, prostitution; offending poster 'stays': owner
Business is brisk at Toronto's newest strip club, opened 10 days ago amid an angry protest by Lakeshore Village residents, says the club's owner.
"It's going very well," said Jack Cohen, owner of Jay Jay's Inn. "God willing, I will make a go of it. I'm not greedy. I'm not doing it for big dollars. Even if I make 10 per cent, it will be better than before."
Approximately 100 residents toted toddlers, children and dogs to the May 5 protest, waved placards that read 'No Strip Club' and chanted 'shut it down'. A petition gathered 1,300 names and comments within days.
Many residents railed against a poster of a scantily clad woman in Jay Jay's window.
Strip club staff covered the poster that night, but it has been exposed each night since, Cohen said.
Cohen said he wrote a letter to the local Business Improvement Area (BIA) to ask its advice about the offending picture. He posted the letter in the club's window. To date, he said, the BIA has not advised him.
The poster will remain, Cohen said.
"In the end, I have a licensed business and that picture is not provocative," he said. "The poster stays. It has been approved by the licensing commission."
City licensing officers inspected the club, complete with its posters, prior to its May 5 opening.
Jay Jay's is one of 24 city-licensed adult entertainment businesses in Toronto.
The century-old building has operated as a country and western bar for the past eight years. Last fall, Cohen decided to once again operate a strip club - which it was until 1997 - after failed attempts to convert it into a rooming house, or as a hotel for little people.
Controversy then centred on Cohen's "sleeping" adult entertainment licence.
"I don't have a problem letting a strip club be in business," Scott Waddell, a new resident, said at the protest. "But I don't think he should be able to shut down for 10 years then again be in business. If he'd kept a strip club running, then residents could decide whether they want to move in or not."
Area Councillor Mark Grimes (Ward 6, Etobicoke-Lakeshore) said he plans to discuss the "sleeping" licence issue with city staff.
Last week, the city's head of licensing said few strip club owners have recently applied for licence renewals.
Many consider strip clubs a dying business. As many as 10 strip clubs in Toronto closed in the past five years.
Yet Cohen remains optimistic. Between 100 to 120 customers attend each night.
"About 15 to 20 per cent of our customers are women, girlfriends, wives," Cohen said. "That amazed me. It's because it's clean inside, well-lit, the girls are well-behaved, there are no dark corners. People are safe. We're a more cabaret-style club. It's a fun place to come."
Since opening, there have been no incidents of drugs or prostitution, Cohen said.
"None whatsoever. These people don't ever come to me."
