Hi, Boise families! Here’s what’s inside Hustler Hollywood’s new $1 million adult store

Why would Hustler Hollywood, the erotic chain run by legendary porn mogul Larry Flynt, open a store in Boise, of all places?

Well, duh.

Families! Idaho’s capital is home to lots and lots of families!

“Boise, for us, was really interesting,” explains Philip Del Rio, vice president of retail, speaking by phone. “We’ve been looking there for the last two or three years. What we saw was we were shipping a pretty decent amount of orders to Boise online. So our customer was there.

“Based on our research,” he continues, “we saw that Boise was one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States right now — still. There’s a lot of young families moving there.

“Even though Hustler, by nature, people would think, ‘Oh, it’s Larry Flynt. It’s a male-focused business.’ No. Hustler Hollywood focuses on females and couples. Families.”

Really — families?

“Couples!” he says with a laugh. “Maybe not families. You get what I’m saying. And Boise has that there.”

When Hustler Hollywood opens its 35th U.S. store on Wednesday, July 22, it will complete a trifecta of adult shopping destinations on Fairview Avenue. Located at the Curtis Road intersection — 5805 W. Fairview Ave. — it’s less than a mile away from another chain, Adam & Eve, and the locally owned Pleasure Boutique.

Despite Hustler’s proudly raunchy reputation in the pornography world, Hustler Hollywood is “tamer than the nature of Hustler,” Del Rio says. The stores are considerably different from the smut magazines your uncle used to hide in the bottom of his tool box. (Incidentally, Hustler is still printed monthly after 46 years.)

‘Selling sex’

“It is our mission to erase the shame,” Del Rio says. “We don’t believe there’s anything wrong with talking about sex, having sex and selling sex. That said, the stores — you come in, you don’t see naked people in your face. That’s not what we do. When you walk into our store, there’s pretty lingerie, there’s pretty shoes, there’s nice jewelry, there’s Hustler logo apparel. All of that really eases the customer into the store.”

Feeling OK with that? Then ease yourself farther into the store — toward the back.

“Of course we sell vibrators, of course we sell lubricants, of course we sell condoms,” Del Rio says. “But it’s an entire sexy lifestyle. It’s not just toys you put in or on your body. It’s what a woman wears on her honeymoon night.”

“The sex toys is really about 20 percent of the business — of the stock, of the space on the sales floor. The other 80 percent is, again, lingerie, apparel. We’ve got cute little gag gifts, silly fun things for bachelorette parties. We have fragrance, we have cosmetics. It’s like everything sexy. Everything you possibly need for being sexy and being in a relationship and celebrating intimacy is in our store.”

The average cost to open a Hustler Hollywood is nearly $1 million, Del Rio says, and “Boise is no different.” Renovations in the 7,000-square-foot space, a former Rent-A-Center, cost more than $500,000. Hustler Hollywood spent nearly $250,000 on two exterior signs and a new building pylon alone, Del Rio adds.

Boiseans should expect those signs to light up the night into the wee hours. Hustler Hollywood will be open from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday. “We’re a late-night business,” Del Rio explains.

Grand opening

As Hustler’s founder, Flynt usually visits new stores to greet customers at a special event. But with the coronavirus pandemic in full swing, the 77-year-old won’t make that trip. Instead, Hustler Hollywood will hold a grand opening the weekend of Aug. 1-2 with “a bunch of giveaways — a really great promotion in the store,” Del Rio says.

Hustler Hollywood will feature free workshops every month or so, too, on topics such as “how to clean your toys, or the best vibrators ... for couples,” he says. “... Education is a hot priority for us.”

Hustler Hollywood employees are trained to be intimately familiar with all the store’s merchandise, Del Rio said. They will wear facial coverings as a COVID-19 precaution and will ask customers to wear them, too. Forget to bring a mask? Hustler Hollywood carries them. “A lot of stores are selling cute, fashion-forward masks now,” Del Rio says. “Everybody has to have a cute little print on it.”

Bottom line? Del Rio expects Hustler Hollywood to be popular in Boise. Even if Idaho is known as a rather conservative place.

“Boise tends to be a little bit more liberal than the rest of the state, right?” Del Rio says. “But honestly, we do very well in conservative markets. ... The conservative people that are there — at the end of the day, they shop our stores, anyway. And they shop us a lot.”

This story was originally published July 21, 2020 at 4:00 AM.