Beverly Business Shut Down For Selling Sex Toys and Hosting After-Hour Parties

Caption: Wicked Blue Box at 11628 S. Western Ave., Chicago. | Photo courtesy of Ald. Matt O’Shea.

The city shut down a Beverly retail business this week after neighbors complained that the store was hosting after-hour parties and selling adult sex toys in violation of its city business license.

Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th) said his office was bombarded with phone calls and email messages from residents last Sunday complaining of a late-night event hosted the evening before at Wicked Blue Box, an adult novelty shop operating at 11628 S. Western Ave.

O’Shea said an investigation involving his office, the 22nd Police District and the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, determined that the Beverly sex toy shop was allegedly charging admission for an in-store event that included live entertainment.

The investigation further revealed that Wicked Blue Box did not have the proper business or public place of amusement licensing allowing the store to sell adult novelty items, let alone staging entertainment.

“This is a close-knit, family community,” O’Shea said. “The fact that this type of business is operating in our own backyard is disturbing.”

On Wednesday, the alderman, along with the Chicago police and the city’s business affairs department, personally hand-delivered a cease-and-desist order to Wicked Blue Box.

“They weren’t open Monday or Tuesday, so we couldn’t get it to them until Wednesday,” O’Shea said.

Owner Simone Randall was surprised when she arrived on Wednesday to open the business to see an orange decal plastered on the store’s window that it had been closed per order of the City of Chicago.

It wasn’t until later that she learned her city business license had expired on Jan. 13.

“I signed my [store] lease in January of last year and got my business license then,” Randall said. “I thought the license was up for renewal in March, when we opened last year. It was a mistake.”

Prior to that, she claims she never received notification from the alderman or the city that she was violating the terms of her business license.

Randall said when she applied with the city last year, she indicated that it was for an adult boutique and adult novelty retail business.

“I don’t do anything too crazy,” she said. “Most of my clientele are Masons and Eastern Stars. I get a lot of Chicago police officers who come in for my 20-percent discounts for city employees.”

The store’s website also doesn’t hide the fact that it sells products ranging from bachelorette party items to adult toys designed rekindle the romance in relationships. The store also hosts classes, including belly dancing and “50 Shades of Fun” ladies nights out. All of the classes “are tasteful and educational presentations.”

Randall says she presented a “Happy Wife, Happy Life” class to some Chicago police officers and their spouses last Saturday that began around 10:30 p.m., unaware at the time that her business license had lapsed.

“I didn’t have a class planned,” Randall explained, “but a police officer I met volunteering at a community event over the summer called and asked if I’d host a class for a friend who is getting married.”

According to Randall, who doesn’t have a liquor license, a guest brought wine and cheese but there was no hard liquor being served. Randall said it was a nice group of 28 to 30 people, mostly couples, who later took off in a rented party bus.

“It was a two-to-three-hour class so you want to loosen them up,” she said. “It wasn’t a loud, rambunctious party. One of the young ladies stayed after and helped me clean up.”

Meanwhile, Randall’s trying to straighten the mess out, admitting that keeping up with the city’s required paperwork isn’t her forte.

“I’m good at what I do best and that’s selling dildos,” she said.

It may also be a sign that its time to move up the street to Blue Island.