The owner of a Langley sex shop, which will be forced to close its doors at the end of the month, says he feels like he’s being unfairly targeted by the City of Langley because of the nature of his business.
The City says it is simply following its official community plan by denying Rocky Ramlochan a new lease for his store, the One Stop Love Shop.
Ramlochan has owned the adult-oriented store in the 20300 block of Fraser Highway since 2000. But the business itself has been open for 35 years, he said.
The store’s lease is up at the end of the month, but because of zoning bylaws in the City that prohibit sex shops, massage parlours and other adult-oriented businesses in the area, Ramlochan will not be permitted to renew it.
Since the municipality enacted the zoning bylaw in 1999, the business has been grandfathered.
The City acquired the older building two years ago as one of several that it has purchased, or hopes to acquire, with the intent of demolishing. It is all part of an ongoing effort to redevelop the area.
However, nothing can be developed in that spot until the City owns the properties on either side of the building, noted Ramlochan. In the meantime, he offered to rent the space on a month-to-month basis, but was turned down. He believes the City blames his business and the Money Mart next door, which is also closing, for drawing an undesirable element to the area.
“They make it look like the people who come to my store are low class and cause problems,” said Ramlochan.
He believes that through its zoning, the City is saying to him, in effect, “We don’t want you. You bring in a bad crowd.”
But his customers are just average working people, Ramlochan insisted.
A Chilliwack resident, Ramlochan owns similar stores in Abbotsford and Kamloops. His Langley store employs two people who will lose their jobs at the end of the month.
Lorena Comeau has worked at the Fraser Highway store for the past seven years and she says the City is wrong to target it for closure.
“I definitely feel like it’s a morality issue,” she said. “But if you’re not into it, you don’t have to come in.
“They classify the stores almost the same as strip clubs, but it’s not the same. My customers are elderly people, couples, people that work,” said Comeau.
Comeau said many of her regular customers come from surrounding communities and were unhappy to learn that the store is closing.
“They’re upset. They can’t believe the City is doing this.”
Adult stores serve a purpose, she said.
“People need to be educated. The younger generation, especially, is going to be lost.”
There is one other sex shop in Langley City. It is located in the Valley Centre shopping centre about two blocks west of Ramlochan’s store on Fraser Highway.
The store’s closure is an issue of civic planning, not morality, said City CAO Francis Cheung. Money Mart was relocating, and with the Love Shop’s lease expiring, it seemed like the appropriate time to look at demolishing the building, he said.
There is one place within the City with zoning that still allows sex shops — Willowbrook Shopping Centre. However, Ramlochan said a mall isn’t an appropriate place for an adult-oriented business such as his. Nonetheless, he did try to contact someone to inquire about a space and had not heard back.
Sex shops are not permitted in Langley Township, so Ramlochan has a realtor looking for a space in Surrey, but he said property for an adult store isn’t that easy to come by.
The location of the Fraser Highway building makes it part of the Civic Precinct in the City’s downtown master plan. Once the City has managed to purchase enough property, council will look at its options, said Cheung.
The municipality may build something on the site, or council may elect to leave it as open space — a walking area with improved sight lines to the new Timms Community Centre, currently under construction next to City Hall. The $14 million facility is expected to be complete in February or March, 2016.