No sex please, we’re retailers

When is a sex shop not a sex shop?

When there's no pornography on sale and no live sex on-site, according to Ponsonby Rd's D.Vice director Ema Lyon.

But Auckland City Council doesn't take that position.

The council last year adopted a bylaw after the Government passed the Prostitution Reform Act.

The bylaw banned commercial sex premises from operating at ground level outside the city's established industry areas, such as Karangahape Rd and Fort St.

The council has since applied the regulation to D.Vice in Ponsonby, despite pleas from the shop's bosses that it should not be lumped in with the rest of the sex industry.

Nearly a year ago, D.Vice had to apply for special dispensation to continue operating from its Ponsonby premises, Ms Lyon said.

Public submissions were finally called for several weeks ago, and they closed yesterday.

Council spokeswoman Kate Mortimer said a hearing date had yet to be set, and submissions would not be open for public scrutiny until the hearing.

Although a number of brothels had applied for dispensation, it was unknown if any other commercial sex shops, such as Eroxxx, had made an application.

Ms Lyon said the shop had been fighting the bylaw for 18 months.

She made a submission to the council before the regulations were passed, asking that D.Vice not be defined as a sex shop.

"It was a very loose definition [in the bylaw].

"It could have been a local dairy selling Penthouses or a supermarket selling condoms."

A bylaw exemption was made for dairies and supermarkets, but Ms Lyon failed to convince the council that her shop fell outside the definition of a commercial sex premise.

"D.Vice does not sell porn. There are no video booths and no erotic den. It is not a sex-on-site venue," she said.

The store sold sex toys and "high quality lingerie, and how-to books," together with a range of plastic products.

It voluntarily policed its own R16 restriction on entry to the shop, Ms Lyon said.

An application for dispensation had been made last year. Ms Lyon said the store had unanimous support from neighbouring businesses.

"A submission has been made from a woman in Hamilton. She's 60 and she comes in with her husband and loves that our shop is open, well-lit.

"She said she'd never go into a mainstream shop. She likes that we're not seedy and sleazy."

Ms Lyon said the store would not move to K-Rd because it was "being set up as a sex-in-the-street ghetto".

The store had recently received one complaint from a member of the public, who objected to a window display of a vibrator.

The display was removed because the shop did not wish to offend anyone, Ms Lyon said.

The Ponsonby shop employs nine people and is in the running for Auckland's Top Shop award.

Its Wellington store came second in the capital's Top Shop awards behind Michael Hill Jeweller.