LICENSED FOR LOVE

An attorney for Kalli’s Love Stuff says the business obtained a business license for its proposed location in Sardis City.

Amy Herring said after the Sardis City Council did not take action on a request for a license, an accountant for Love Stuff owner Ross Winner applied for a business license through Revenue Discovery Systems, a Birmingham business that contracts with cities to administrate business licensing.

A spokesperson at RDS confirmed that the business does have a license for the Sardis City location. Herring said the application is the kind of thing accountants do for business clients.

Winner said RDS “did what they’re supposed to do.” He said the license was issued “with no hesitation, no problem.”

The store, he said, has done about $400 worth of business in Sardis City already. He said the store has had a “soft opening” — is open a few hours a day and will continue to do so. He said he wanted to make some sales so the City Council could not come back and say, “We’re rescinding your business license because it hasn’t been used.

“They’re probably going to have a baby,” Winner said, when the mayor and council learn the license has been issued.

He said the store should be ready in five to seven days. He said he’d already employed seven people, four from the Sardis City limits. He said he’s been very pleased with the quality of the work force in the area.

Winner said he plans a grand opening the first week of August.

Merchandise already is being placed on the shelves, he said, and it won’t take long to prepare fully. Because the store has other locations, there’s a template for its organization.

“We know what to do,” Winner said. “And we know what not to do.”

The store is located in the vacant ABC Beverages building on U.S. Highway 431. The chain of stores — five in Alabama, according to Herring — carries lingerie and what are often termed adult novelty items. Some of the merchandise available in the store can only be used for certain exempted uses, such as medical or educational purposes.

At Love Stuff stores, Winner said, those items are in a separate room; people must show identification to see the merchandise and must sign that they are buying the products for an exempted use.

Since the City Council heard and did not act on Winner’s request, a “Kalli’s presents Love Stuff” sign had been moved in front of the vacant ABC store, in apparent preparation for a store opening.

When the council did not vote on the license last month, Winner said he would sue.

Sardis City Attorney Jack Floyd said Winner had the right to go to state court over the council’s lack of action.

Still, Floyd said he thought the City Council acted in what they saw as the interests of the city when they did not take action to grant a license.

If the issue were put to a vote of the people of Sardis City, Floyd said, he would expect a vast majority of the citizenry would agree with what the council did.

Winner said he sought to open a store in the Sardis-Boaz-Albertville area because of the amount of business he saw in his Oxford and Hoover locations that comes from Etowah, Marshall and surrounding counties. He said Gadsden was too close to the Oxford location, so he started looking around Boaz. He said he found the property before realizing it was actually in Sardis City, just south of Boaz.