Romantix Wins Key Fargo Zoning Appeal

By: Andy Powell – Senior Correspondent | B2B Pleasure Products News

LAS VEGAS, NV — (August 26, 2026) — Adult retail chain Romantix has scored a significant victory in its long-running zoning dispute with the City of Fargo, after a federal appeals court determined that city officials acted arbitrarily and capriciously when they denied the company’s proposed downtown retail location.

The ruling in Romantix-Fargo, Inc. v. City of Fargo, et al. sends a critical portion of the case back to the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota, potentially giving Romantix another opportunity to revive the storefront it first sought to open in 2022.

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At the heart of the dispute is whether Fargo improperly changed its interpretation of its own zoning rules after Romantix relied on guidance from city officials and invested heavily in the proposed location.

Romantix Says It Followed Fargo’s Own Zoning Guidance

Romantix originally planned to open a retail store in Fargo’s downtown mixed-use district, known as the DMU.

According to the company’s case, Fargo officials initially provided a zoning confirmation indicating that the proposed business could operate in the district provided it did not sell sexually oriented books or magazines that would cause the location to fall within the city’s definition of an “adult bookstore.”

Romantix adjusted its proposed merchandise mix accordingly.

The retailer subsequently entered into a seven-year lease and reportedly invested approximately $400,000 in preparing the new location. City officials nevertheless denied its change-of-use permit after determining that the proposed operation should be treated like an adult bookstore for zoning purposes. That reversal became a central issue in the company’s litigation.

Romantix argued that it had relied on the city’s own interpretation of its Land Development Code, only for officials to change their position after the company had committed substantial resources to the project.

The dispute became even more consequential when Fargo subsequently amended its zoning rules to expressly classify “sexual device shops” as “adult establishments,” effectively preventing businesses fitting that classification from operating in the DMU district.

Federal Appeals Court Rejects Part of Romantix Case — But Delivers Critical Win

Romantix did not prevail on every argument presented to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit.

The appeals court rejected claims that Fargo had violated the retailer’s First Amendment rights in connection with the proposed store, which was not planning to sell books, magazines, periodicals or DVDs. The court also rejected Romantix’s constitutional vagueness challenge.

But the judges treated another question separately: whether Fargo properly applied its existing adult-bookstore zoning provision to Romantix in the first place.

That distinction proved critical.

Under the ordinance in effect when Romantix sought its permit, Fargo defined an adult bookstore by reference to a substantial or significant portion of its stock consisting of books, magazines or other periodicals characterized by specified content. The district-court record confirms that language.

Because the proposed Romantix store did not fit that definition, the appeals court concluded that the city’s decision to deny the permit was “arbitrary and capricious” under state law.

$400,000 Investment Looms Over Long-Running Dispute

The ruling provides a potentially important development for Romantix after years of litigation surrounding a location that never opened.

Romantix’s position has been that the company did exactly what businesses are generally expected to do when navigating local zoning requirements: seek guidance from the appropriate officials, modify its business plan to comply with that guidance and then invest based upon the city’s interpretation.

In its appellate arguments, Romantix maintained that zoning definitions cannot simply change according to an administrator’s preferences after official guidance has already been provided.

Attorney Matthew Hoffer, representing Romantix-Fargo, pressed that argument before the three-judge 8th Circuit panel during oral arguments on March 17. The official court calendar confirms that the case was heard that day as Case No. 25-2235 before Judges Steven Colloton, Raymond Gruender and Jonathan Kobes.

Romantix argued that Fargo’s later decision to specifically regulate sexual-device retailers demonstrated the problem with attempting to fit the proposed store into the city’s earlier adult-bookstore definition.

Fargo countered that Romantix was not entitled to have the earlier ordinance effectively grandfathered because the proposed store had never actually begun operating.

What Happens Next for Romantix-Fargo?

The appeals court’s decision does not automatically give Romantix permission to open the Fargo store.

Instead, the case returns to federal district court for another crucial determination.

The lower court must consider whether Romantix’s state-law claim has become moot following Fargo’s subsequent zoning amendment — or whether some form of relief remains available, including the possibility that Romantix could retroactively obtain consideration under the ordinance that existed when it originally applied.

That distinction could determine whether the years-long battle ends as a legal victory without a storefront or ultimately places the proposed Romantix location back before Fargo zoning officials.

For the broader pleasure-products industry, however, the ruling carries significance beyond a single retail location. The case highlights the potential consequences when municipalities attempt to apply legacy “adult bookstore” zoning classifications to modern sexual wellness and pleasure-product retailers whose merchandise bears little resemblance to the bookstores those ordinances were originally written to regulate.

For Romantix, the battle isn’t finished — but after Thursday’s appellate decision, neither is its case.

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JRL CHARTS B2B Pleasure Products News will continue tracking the Romantix-Fargo zoning dispute as the case returns to federal district court and the fight over the proposed downtown retail location moves into its next phase.