JOHNS CREEK: Love Shack closes; fight not over

Adult video store owner John Cornetta has closed the Love Shack in Johns Creek, but has vowed to seek $1.7 million in damages from the city.

“I couldn’t take the losses anymore,” Cornetta said. “I’m still opening new stores, and I still have pending court cases that I’m going to win.”

He said he was losing about $40,000 a month. Employees were seen moving items out Monday night.

The 10,000-square-foot store, at State Bridge and Jones Bridge roads in the heart of the city, has been the object of scorn and dismay by many residents, and the city’s efforts to regulate it generated piles of litigation.

Mayor Mike Bodker and City Attorney Bill Riley declined to comment because of pending lawsuits, but e-mails and phone calls were flying around the city.

“I guess I could say we’re relieved,” said Kitty Garrison, owner of North Atlanta Dance Academy, across the street from the Love Shack.

“It was the issue of a sexually oriented business close to a residential area, a school bus stop, and 400 young dancers that made the community nervous,” Garrison said.

She said, “The free market did what the free market does. The community didn’t support it.”

Cornetta said the city’s unwillingness to give him a sign ran him out of business. The city says it won’t give a sign permit or a business license to an adult business in an area not zoned for that.

Cornetta’s attorney, Cary Wiggins, said not having a sign meant Cornetta couldn’t draw in passing traffic, which killed his business.

“Best Buy, as well-known as they are, would have a hard time making it without a sign,” Wiggins said. “You don’t know it’s Best Buy without the yellow sign.”

The Love Shack opened just a couple of days before the city was born Dec. 1, 2006. Cornetta argued that his store existed before the city did, and the city couldn’t regulate him. After losing in Fulton Superior Court, Cornetta cleaned out all but a few items of adult inventory and applied for a regular business license, which the city denied.

Cornetta said the city gave signs to other businesses without business licenses.

“If the judge finds that they illegally caused a business to fail, they’re facing huge fines,” he said.

Cornetta has three lawsuits pending relating to the Johns Creek store.

In the first case, Cornetta went to court over the county’s denial of a business license. The case went to the federal appeals court, and now is before a district court judge.

The second is a case in which Johns Creek sued in Fulton County Superior Court alleging that Cornetta was operating an adult business without proper zoning. The city won, Cornetta appealed, and it is pending in the Georgia Court of Appeals.

The third is a lawsuit filed by Cornetta asking that the Superior Court order the city to allow the Love Shack to erect a sign, and demanding damages. That case is set to be heard in November.

Don Kennedy, a resident of Johns Creek, said he thought it was sad that the city would use its resources to pressure a small business to close, especially in the tough economy.

“They’re killing a small business they don’t agree with,” he said. “That’s not free enterprise. I’m sad my tax dollars would be used to do that.”