Tokyo Valentino On Cobb Pkwy. Ordered Closed By Council

MARIETTA — A Cobb County sex shop lost its appeal Wednesday to stay open after the City of Marietta revoked the store’s business license.

In a special meeting after its regular session, the Marietta City Council upheld revoking the license of Tokyo Valentino on Cobb Parkway, across from the Marietta Diner. The council ordered the adult store to “immediately” remove its merchandise and close.

The Cobb Parkway Tokyo Valentino had its business license revoked on June 18 after Marietta officials determined that the store’s merchandise — almost all of it sexual in nature — didn’t square with its license application.

Marietta city prosecutor Ben Smith said that store owner Michael Morrison concealed “material fact” by not spelling out what Tokyo Valentino planned to sell, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Morrison’s attorney Cary Wiggins argued that the city’s ordinance was unconstitutional and meant for adult bookstores, not stores with general sexual merchandise.

Marietta’s city council voted unanimously to revoke the license, in addition to suspending it for 180 days.

Meanwhile, a second location in East Cobb county is “doing well” despite neighborhood opposition, according to Morrison.

A recently opened Tokyo Valentino on Johnson Ferry Road sits near an elementary school and a church. The sex shop was targeted by neighbors with an online petition that collected nearly 3,000 signatures. However, the location is under Cobb County jurisdiction — outside of Marietta — and county officials said it fit local zoning.

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