Hot Stuff cools down its videotape selection

Denise Cardinal

Monday, March 2, 1998 | 10:13 a.m.

An adult novelty store that was targeted by the city of Las Vegas has since reopened as a regular video store.

Video Plus, at 5100 W. Charleston Boulevard, was previously named Hot Stuff -- an adult novelty store that also sold adult videos.

The store opened in 1997 as a T-shirt shop because there were no separate licenses for adult novelty shops.

Since then, the city's licensing division audited the store several times, concluding that 58 percent of the store's inventory was adult books and videos. Under those conditions, the store had to either alter its inventory or move to an industrial, rather than commercial, area.

Instead of moving, the owners of Hot Stuff took the city to court, accusing City Councilman Michael McDonald of ignoring city code when the City County revoked its business license.

But the U.S. District Court ruled in favor of the city, a ruling which the owners have appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. That appeal is still pending, said Hot Stuff attorney Michael Stein.

In the course of the store closing, however, the owners of the building where Hot Stuff had been leasing space converted the business into a regular video store.

The store has since been issued a temporary business license from the city.

Inside, the shelves are full of a variety of videos, as well as incense, T-shirts and a few other novelty items. There is also a fairly extensive adult video section.