Shoppers doff tops in beachfront store

WASAGA BEACH, Ont. - A "topless" clothing store in this beachfront resort community attracted plenty of attention Saturday but most of the customers weren't buying.

"They were just checking out the wares," chuckled owner David Blackstone, 35, a clothing designer who found a novel way to promote his beach and sportswear lines.

People gawked and the store on Georgian Bay was packed as a couple of women shoppers removed their tops, he said.

"We're a free-thinking, free-spirited store," said Blackstone. "There are no limitations but they can't take their bottoms off, of course."

It was the grand opening of Tom and Tina's Topless Surf and Sport and Blackstone freely admits he planned to have several female friends doff their tops to "create some hype."

Unfortunately, the friends didn't make it to the store as planned but a couple of other shoppers took his "No shirt, no shoes, good service" slogan to heart.

The Toronto-born Blackstone, a business graduate from the University of Minnesota, said he got the publicity he was looking for. He spent the day fielding calls from the media, including an American television network.

Last December, the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned the conviction of a woman who was charged with indecency after she walked topless down a street in Guelph, Ont., in 1991.

Since the onset of warm weather a few weeks ago, there have been regular accounts of sightings of topless women on Ontario beaches, in front of strip clubs and on the streets of Toronto while cleaning car windshields.

Blackstone said he plans to put a Help Wanted sign in the window.

"We're going to tell them if they want to go topless anytime they want, they can," he said. "We'll pay them to work but we will not pay them to be topless."