Omaha’s City Council has made its recommendation regarding an adult store's application to sell alcohol. And it doesn’t bode well for Basic Tease Boutique, 13th & Howard.

The store sells grown-up novelties and offers pole dance exercise classes. The owner wanted to offer grown-up drinks, too.

But in a unanimous vote Tuesday, the City Council denied license approval. They will send their recommendation to the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission, which will ultimately decide.

Basic tease has been in business for five years, When it moved downtown seven months months ago, owner Tamara Heasler-Webster brought in a stripper’s pole. "It's an exercise class, and it's just good fun,” she said.

She thought her customers could have more fun if they could buy alcohol. Heasler-Webster wanted a liquor license so she could offer drinks at special events, like bachelorette parties. She said those events could potentially include strippers.

"It would get people interested in what was going on in the store,” she said. “The ladies are down here anyway. They're usually staying in a hotel, they're being responsible." Heasler-Webster said she didn’t wan to run a bar, but provide customers with a pre-bar crawl activity.

Some question just how responsible liquor sales at her establishment would be. Neighbor and county commissioner Mike Boyle has been the most vocal. "Right across the street, if they start having trouble making money, they're going to have strippers. There's no question about it. What's to stop them?"

Another neighbor also objected Tuesday, before the Council vote. "The old market is key to revitalizing downtown,” said Marsha Congdon. “I think if the city council votes to approve this, we've just started a slippery slope to have the Old Market turn into the kind of place that's not going to attract families."

District 3 Councilman Chris Jerram said his mind had not changed since the issue was laid over two weeks ago. "I think the type of establishment, if you are concerned with events. You have another option available to you,” he told Heasler-Webster. “You can hire a caterer."

Of the unanimous vote to deny the license, Heasler-Webster said, “It’s a little surprising. I thought at least one council member would approve.”

She added, "I wish that people were a little bit more open-minded. I'm not selling anything that isn't easily accessible at the mall."

Boyle said he thinks the Council's decision will weigh heavily as liquor control commissioners decide the fate of her license request.

Either way, Heasler-Webster has said she will continue to host bachelorette parties and the like, and she will continue her pole dance exercise classes.