A couple months after being temporarily shut down by a Cobb County judge, the Tokyo Valentino adult retail store on Johnson Ferry Road in East Cobb appears to be closed for good.
A For Lease sign has been posted in a front window, and East Cobb News has left a message with Tokyo Valentino’s attorney seeking further information and comment.
On July 19, Cobb Superior Court judge LaTain Kell ordered the store closed after a hearing in a legal dispute between Tokyo Valentino owner Michael Morrison and the county.
Cobb commissioners voted late last year to revoke the store’s business license, saying it misrepresented what kind of business would be going there when it received a business license in March 2020.
The county charged that Tokyo Valentino falsely applied to open a clothing store—calling itself the 1290 Clothing Co.—then featured an inventory mostly of sex toys after opening in June 2020 as Tokyo Valentino.
It was the fifth Tokyo Valentino location opened by Morrison, who has been embroiled with other jurisdictions in metro Atlanta over his various adult businesses.
After his store opened in East Cobb, Cobb commissioners overhauled the county code governing adult businesses.
Tokyo Valentino filed a federal lawsuit against the county, but that was dismissed in May.
Kell’s order was to enjoin Tokyo Valentino from doing business while the legal wrangling continued, and was not a permanent closure.
In August, Tokyo Valentino attorney Cary Wiggins made an emergency appeal for Kell to stay that injunction, but the judge declined.
Cobb officials said during the hearing before Kell that Tokyo Valentino had not applied for a general business license for 2021 or for an adult oriented business license, something that’s now required under the revised ordinance.
The new ordinance also permits adult businesses only in office-industrial zoning categories. The Tokyo Valentino store, which was formerly a mattress store, has been in a standalone building zoned for general commercial use and didn’t need to get county approval before opening.
Cobb government spokesman Ross Cavitt told East Cobb News that Tokyo Valentino’s appeal of the county’s attempt to permanently revoke its business license “is still underway.”
Cobb Police said that last fall, the Tokyo Valentino store was robbed by a burglar whom they allege stole more than $21,000 of lingerie, sex enhancement pills, CBD products, sex toys and gift cards.
A suspect was arrested in June and is facing numerous burglary and related charges for what police said was an extensive crime spree in Cobb from last September to March of this year.
Related stories
- East Cobb Tokyo Valentino store ordered closed by judge
- Cobb seeks injunction against Tokyo Valentino during litigation
- East Cobb Tokyo Valentino store business license revoked
- Cobb commissioners overhaul sexually oriented businesses code
- Proposed Cobb code changes target sexually oriented businesses
- Editor’s Note: Is East Cobb really so uptight about a sex shop?
- East Cobb citizens speak out against new Johnson Ferry Road store
- Empty East Cobb retail building subject of sex shop concerns
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
