Rosenberg business pushes back after being asked to file as a 'sexually oriented business'

ROSENBERG, Texas (KTRK) -- A business owner in Rosenberg is growing frustrated after he said he can't open unless he files for a license that would label his store a sexually oriented business.

The Bowlings family says they have spent thousands of dollars to build the business from the ground up. They are currently renting a facility on Avenue G, but the doors are shut, the stands are empty, the lights are off, and plans to open are at a standstill.

The issue? They plan to sell a small percentage of adult novelty items and will need to file for permits that could limit where they can operate.

"Our oldest daughter is special needs, so we wanted to make sure that if anything was to happen to us, she wouldn't have to worry about it," Hidden Pleasures owner Crystal Bowling said.

The Bowlings made Rosenberg their home a year ago after moving from Florida.

Now, they're trying to launch a small business to help their kids' future.

"We wanted to open the business mainly for our daughters to make sure they had financial stability growing up so they did not have to struggle the way we did," Crystal said.

That's when the idea to open Hidden Pleasures came to mind.

"My wife then worked in an adult novelty store, and I (saw) that the revenue versus the overhead was extremely different, and you had a chance to make a lot of money," Hidden Pleasures owner Daniel Bowling said.

But what they didn't expect was the roadblocks they've encountered.

"We didn't think that it would be this big of a challenge," Crystal said.

The Bowlings say they can't receive an occupancy certificate unless they file for a sexually oriented business license.

"I reviewed the ordinance and (saw) that I didn't fall into the category of an SOB because of the primary," Daniel said.

The city's 10-page ordinance on SOBs details that a store is considered a sexually oriented business if it's an establishment whose primary business is the offering of a service or the selling..... or exhibiting of devices or any other items intended to be used sexually.

The Bowlings say Hidden Pleasures will have all kinds of things like shirts, hats, and piercings, and 5% of the store will be adult novelty like sexual devices. They say they have zero plans to have anything sexual visible from their storefront windows.

They brought their concerns up with the chief of police, who is the ultimate decider.

"He wants me to file as an SOB," Daniel said. "And as an SOB in Rosenberg, I have to be 2,500 feet from a school... residential area... playground, and you're not going to find that anywhere in Rosenberg."

Police Chief Jonathan White told ABC13 it is his and the city's opinion that this business will need to apply for a permit and go through the process based on the items it would be selling and what they call the totality of the circumstances.

The chief says they can appeal the decision once the business applies for the SOB license.

ABC13 asked whether, if the Bowlings were to get the permit, they'd be able to run their business out of this facility on Avenue G because of the distance requirements to places like residential areas. The chief says that's all something that is discussed in the permit process.

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