I have weird thoughts about cruising, despite... you know... being on a website called CruisingForSex. I guess I mean I'm not really willing to risk getting caught doing stuff in the open (like on a hike trial or park, car in a empty lot) or going to somewhere super sketchy.
However, I will say 1 thing; Really learn how to use the internet wisely! Everyone is on it now, so there are still more opportunities than you think to get some action.

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I went out with a friend to two adult book stores located in Bullhead City and Mohave Valley (northwestern) Arizona. Things are almost back to normal. Booths with holes are open, theaters are open, and even on a Monday night we had some company. Our other stores are also open. That is progress

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That is great to hear Mojavebottom!

Here in LA it is hit or miss - some have the arcades open - some open limited hours - many have opened the retail part of the business but the theaters / arcades are still closed.

Hopefully things will start to open up and get back to normal soon!

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I need to move there

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Ironically, after lasting a year staying open through the whole covid pandemic, corporate close the theaters almost 2 weeks ago after the police showed up and issued citations to the manager and another clerk for "maintaining a disorderly house". Romantix has their lawyers involved for both clerks as well as the store. The police did not go into the arcade nor did they ticket any patrons. I was there (in the arcade) when this happened. It's the weirdest thing. And ironic. The cops stated that there were 60-90 eople a day "back there" and there was sex going on "all the time". If only, right? It wouldn't surprise me if they keep them closed. The theater sales were only 5% of the overall monetary intake, maybe 10% on a slow day. It was just "gravy" for them as far as income.

I've heard of at least one other store in the chain removing the arcade so they had more retail sales area. This is a real need at some of their smaller locations where the arcade took literally 1/3 to 1/2 of the store area. If it's not a money-maker, just like any retail business, it's time for a re-design or re-invent of sorts. Why have an arcade that's only bringing in a hundred a day when you can stock it with literally thousands of dollars of retail merchandise? This wasn't the case 25 years ago, but that was a whole generation ago and things change. Unfortunately sometimes.

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Such a shame. Now the cruising will be forced out in to the dark corners of town and the parks, etc. Boys will be boys. Might as well except the fact and give them a safe, clean and supervised place to get their knobs polished.

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It seems amazing that the theater sales are that small a percentage.

Whenever I have gone in the majority of the people are in the arcade - very few are shopping for toys, etc.

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Each location is different. In ours, there's no arcade just theaters. If there's a dozen guys in there, that's roughly $108 in income. I've seen retail sales approach that number for just a single purchase. I've seen a lot of folks drop 2 or 3 times that in merchandise. Multiply that a few times and it adds up to 4 figures on a shift quickly. Ours sells a lot of sex toys, lube, cleaners (both toy and "VHS" cleaners), rhino pills and such, and even batteries. Those things aren't cheap and it takes a lot of arcade $9 entry fees to match those, and it doesn't happen here in Lincoln. Our other location has been there for years, and has been successful with retail only and no arcade/theater. But that's Lincoln Nebraska. I've seen other shops where the expenditures are vastly different, so it just depends on where in the country you are and how sleazy/active the store permits guys to be, and how many guys are in that area willing to play in the store.

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That is very interesting lonewolf.

I can see where the theater income would be limited - one admission and you can stay as long as you want. There is a porn theater in Hollywood where many of the reviews say it is filled with drug addicts looking for air conditioning who never leave!

But the arcades I would think would be a gold mine. $1 only buys a couple of minutes - keep feeding the machine or get out - use the same videos over and over - so you main expense would be cleaning.

I can imagine the toy sales would be a nice profit - I would much rather go and pay cash and know what I am getting rather than order through the mail. I always think of the cartoon of the box sitting on the doorstep covered in "Dildos R Us" shipping stickers with the caption "they said discrete shipping!"

Luckily out here stores are slowly reopening - some hare reopened their arcades - the theater is still closed. But at least it looks like they will survive. A number of the bath houses have permanently closed.

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I just heard that one of our local ABS that has "theaters" has reopened the theater -

But instead of $12 for the day and you could leave and come back now it is $12 for 3 hours (with an hour in between sessions for "cleaning") but the worst is that they periodically open the door to the theater to "make sure everyone is wearing masks".

If those polices remain I expect to see the theater permanently closed soon.

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