The legal dispute surrounding The Love Library took an unusual turn Tuesday when store owner Charles Craton purchased back merchandise that had been seized from the Shorter Avenue adult retail store and later auctioned on the steps of the Floyd County Courthouse.
The merchandise was originally removed from The Love Library in August as part of efforts to collect on a judgment connected to Chazzy Retail Services, a separate business entity. At the time, the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office assisted in retrieving inventory from the store, and officials announced that the merchandise would eventually be sold at a public auction.
On Tuesday morning, Craton attended that auction and purchased the entire inventory for a total of $1.
“I have to admit, after everything that has happened, there is a certain amount of humor in how today ended,” Craton said following the sale.
Craton has consistently maintained that the merchandise belonged to Romeathon Investments, LLC, the company that owns and operates The Love Library, and not to Chazzy Retail Services, the entity against which the judgment was obtained.
“From the beginning, our position has been that the merchandise taken from the Love Library belonged to Romeathon and was not property of the company against which Alpine had obtained its judgment,” Craton said.
According to Craton, that distinction became lost amid public discussion surrounding the seizure.
“Judging from some of the Facebook comments after the original story, I think a few people were convinced the Love Library had been ‘raided,’ shut down by the government, or that something much more exciting was going on than a complicated civil collection dispute,” he said.
Craton said the seized merchandise was removed from the store, transported, stored, advertised for public sale and ultimately auctioned by the Sheriff’s Office, only to return to the business after he purchased it back at auction.
“After several months, a newspaper advertisement, moving expenses, storage expenses, travel expenses and all the other costs involved in carrying out this execution, the Love Library merchandise made quite a journey around Rome only to come home for $1,” Craton said. “I probably couldn’t have negotiated a better deal.”
While Craton joked that he may frame the receipt, he emphasized that the underlying legal dispute remains active in Floyd County Superior Court.
“There is still serious litigation pending, however, and I don’t want the humor of today’s outcome to obscure that,” he said.
According to Craton, the judgment originated from a merchant cash advance transaction involving Chazzy Retail Services. He said his legal team is challenging both the collection actions taken by Alpine and the decision to execute against property that Romeathon contends belonged to a separate company that was not a judgment debtor.
Craton also said his company disputes Alpine’s characterization of the ownership history of the inventory that was seized. Those issues remain before the court and will continue to be addressed through ongoing litigation.
Despite the controversy, Craton said The Love Library never planned to close permanently. Following the temporary closure caused by the seizure, the business reopened and all employees retained their jobs.
“The Love Library was never going out of business,” Craton said. “Our employees kept their jobs, we reopened, and the merchandise that caused all this controversy has now officially completed its round trip.”
For now, the inventory is back where it started, and what became one of Rome’s most unusual civil collection disputes concluded this chapter with a courthouse auction purchase price of just $1.
