OLYMPIA, Wash. — Olympia's first strip club is ready to open its doors on April 4. After months of work and bureaucratic red tape, club owner Levi Bussanich said the business is finishing up final touches before the opening.
Olympia first enacted codes for the sexually oriented businesses in 1997, and Bussanich said he ran into several problems as city council members worked out and even changed some things as he was working to get the business running.
“There was more growing pains for the city because they’d never licensed dancers," said Bussanich. “There was a lot of new things for them to have to figure out.”
Part of the problem came after Washington Engage, a small nonprofit advocacy group focusing on sex trafficking, approached the council with concerns about the business.
“These places are really hotbeds of human trafficking," said Rose Gundersen, the group’s co-founder and executive director.
Gundersen said many women working in strip clubs often have to engage in illegal sexual activity in order to make money. “These woman who work have to go beyond the legal and they’re often coerced or given drugs," Gundersen said.
Bussanich, who has owned an adult store specializing in sex toys and pornography at the site for 16 years, said sexual activity and prostitution will be strictly prohibited at the club. And he added that when he placed an advertisement on Craigslist for dancers and other employees, women flocked to the club looking for work.
“That was pretty disheartening to see that many people show up and really highly qualified people just wanting a job,” said Bussanich.
Bussanich added Washington Engage is the only group that has opposed the club’s opening and that future customers have been posting to social media sites, saying the sexually oriented entertainment is something they want.
“Our Facebook accounts and things show that people are looking forward to it," said Bussanich.
KIRO
