Officials not laughing at Spencer’s gifts

A New Jersey-based retail store, Spencer’s, notorious for its humorous novelty gifts, has overstepped its boundaries in Southland Mall of Houma, and parish officials find nothing funny about it.

Terrebonne Parish Councilman Billy Hebert said he’d been receiving numerous calls about adult items being sold in the store that are inappropriate for minors, which would violate a law that prohibits the sale of adult items within 1,000 feet of a residential district, school or church, according to an Associated Press report.

Planning and Zoning Director Pat Gordon said the store is approximately 250 feet from an apartment complex.

“I’ve gotten probably about 25 calls in the last few days. They are running an adult store in there and juveniles are being allowed in the store, and it’s pretty bad stuff from what I understand from the parents,” Hebert said at last week’s council meeting.

“Spencer’s offers a variety of unique gifts and gag present ideas that range from family friendly to R-rated to Adults Only,” Spencer’s website stated.

But these “R-rated” and “Adults Only” gifts might be in violation of a parish ordinance that states certain stores are to be considered a sexually oriented business if their merchandise is substantially adult items.

In the AP report, an attorney for the retail store said the company is not a sexually oriented business, because only 5 percent of the store’s stock is adult items. He said the adult merchandise must be over 20 percent to be considered substantial.

Spencer’s merchandise also includes T-shirts, costumes, black lights and posters.

“We’ve never been found to be an adult business under an ordinance like this,” Kevin Mahoney, Spencer’s attorney told AP. “It tends to come up more with a new store because that specific community is not familiar with us.”

Gordon said he will be meeting with Spencer’s attorney on Friday to come up with an agreement.

“We don’t necessarily want them to be out of the mall, we just want them to cease the selling of sexually oriented items. There needs to be some buffering between the mainstream merchandise to this other more adult-type novelties,” he said, noting minors walk in and out of the store on a daily basis.

“This is out in the open, we’re going to see if we can’t work something out that’s more accommodating for everyone,” Gordon said.

Adult-oriented items at Spencer’s in Southland Mall have caught the ire of Terrebonne Parish Councilman Billy Hebert, who wants the goods pulled from the shelves. JENNA FARMER