Tampa Mom and Pop strip club struggling

Glen and Lydia Garkowicz, the husband-and-wife owners of Hump's Stripper Club in Tampa, are concerned about the future of the business they started together in 1972.

"We're just a small mom & pop shop, the kind your grandfather could have, and probably did, and maybe still does patronize," said Glen. "We're at a severe disadvantage against the corporate behemoths that dominate the landscape these days."

"The 'big box' stores, if you will."

Their concerns have been heightened by the recent acquisition of the Mons Venus by Don Kleinhans, the owner of the 2001 Odyssey across the street.

"It's always been a struggle for us. We're not located on Dale Mabry; we're on Lois between the airport and the community college, next to a body shop, a coin laundry, a church, a daycare center and another coin laundry and a different church. But somehow, we've been able to survive," said Lydia. "Going forward, I don't know how a little, old, family-owned business like ours is going to make it."

"It's like I keep telling you, dear," interjected Glen. "Sure, we don't have access to a global human trafficking pipeline as a source for securing dancers, but we've never needed that because strippers are contract labor that we don't actually pay or provide benefits anyway. We just need the Good Lord Above to keep providing us enough single moms who can't get into the 'good' clubs and horny men with suitably low standards and the budget to match and we'll pull through. Somehow."