San Francisco International airport

    

Nenna Joiner thinks a sex shop would be a perfect fit for San Francisco International Airport.

“When people get into an airport, and the plane is delayed, you got three or four hours to kill,” the owner of Oakland’s Feelmore Adult Gallery told the San Francisco Chronicle. “You’re going to need something. Not just a power cord – not just a sandwich. You’re going to need a vibrator, a condom, lubricant.”

Joiner says her proposed “pop-up” shop wouldn’t offer products banned by the Transportation Safety Administration, such as ropes or handcuffs, according to KGO.

And the shop would be discreet, she told the Chronicle.

“We have already started to work to make sure that people wouldn’t be offended, through high-end vibrators that don’t look like vibrators, and that don’t have disparaging detail on the boxes,” Joiner told the publication. “That (the products) support any person regardless of gender, sex, or color.”

But her bid for one of two spots opening in March has run afoul of an airport requirement that prospective retailers have at least $250,000 in annual sales, the Chronicle reported. Joiner has asked the airport commission to reduce the requirement to $150,000.

“It’s not to say I’m not looking for a handout, but it’s also looking for evening the playing field,” Joiner told KGO.

Grier Matthews, marketing manager for the airport, noted in a statement that the $250,000 requirement ensures “the retailer has a sufficient level of business activity and can operate in a high-volume airport environment,” KGO reported.

Matthews is not the first small business owner to run afoul of the airport’s requirements. Teresa Hagiya, a co-owner of Wink SF gift shop, applied for a pop-up retail spot in 2016, but was shocked to find her Noe Valley shop competing against the Exploratorium Museum Store for the space, reported the San Francisco Examiner. Hagiya said airport officials had told her the purpose of the program was to benefit local small businesses.

“Say I had a softball team, and you find you’re competing against the Giants,” she said. “You’d go, ‘Wow, hey, I didn’t know they were accepted into this league.’ ”

San Francisco International Airport served a record 55.8 million passengers in 2017, reported airport officials.