The famed Canadian sex shop chain Priape closed all four of its locations yesterday after spending several months in bankruptcy proceedings. According to one store manager, revenues had plummeted after the company was forced to cease selling poppers. Via
Daily Xtra:
In June, just before the Pride season, Health Canada issued a warning asking retailers to stop selling and distributing alkyl nitrites or, as they are more commonly known on the party scene, the popular drug “poppers.” “For us that represented a huge amount of sales and profit, so that’s what triggered it all,” Leblanc says. “It’s not so much percentage of sales, but the gross profit it brought in, and proportionately it was very significant.” Although poppers are not considered a narcotic in Canada, and possession of alkyl nitrates is not illegal, they are considered a drug, and their sale is regulated by the Food and Drug Act. Unauthorized sales of the drug can be punished with jail terms of up to three years and fines of up to $5,000.
Daily Xtra notes that the company owed suppliers almost $700K before the poppers ban was imposed.
Labels: business, Canada, retail
