INDIANAPOLIS — Residents of the Castleton area are upset because they’ve learned about a new business moving in.
An adult store is planning to move into a vacant storefront next to a Chuck E. Cheese’s restaurant.
“Do they know? Can they see? That’s Chuck E. Cheese,” customer Barbara Jackson said.
Jackson brings her grandchildren to eat there every month.
She can’t believe an adult store would choose to open mere feet away
“That’s a bad influence, it’s really bad,” she said.
On Hustler Hollywood’s website, an Indianapolis location at 5505 E. 82nd Street is listed as “Coming Soon.”
Right now, that address is a vacant store next to Chuck E. Cheese’s.
There aren’t any signs on the building indicating a future Hustler store.
So when neighborhood leader Jonathan Eriksen heard about the plans, he was shocked.
“The notice that we received indicates that it is going through the process of approval downtown,” Greater Allisonville Community Council Director Jonathan Eriksen said.
He learned in a letter from his city-county councillor that the store is listed as “retail” and won’t be violating any codes.
The company claims they will sell less than 25 percent adult material so they won’t have to be classified as an “adult bookstore.”
“We don’t know what kind of case we as a community of concerned citizens can possibly have when they’re not violating a zoning ordinance,” he said.
Even if it’ll be difficult to fight, Eriksen wants to try for the sake of their community.
“Putting it next to a restaurant that serves children literally in the same parking lot, that doesn’t make any sense at all,” he said.
Barbara Jackson said this could cause her to take her grandkids to eat and play somewhere else.
WISH-TV reached out to Hustler Hollywood for comment, however they had not responded as of Thursday night.
Chuck E. Cheese’s also declined to speak.
