Super Bowl XL

Is Windsor the Super Sin City?

Canadian town's sex trade may lure game revelers to cross border.

Louis Aguilar / The Detroit News

WINDSOR -- The testosterone-charged throngs of Super Bowl XL may temporarily turn this pleasant border town into Sin City North.

There are things you can get in Windsor that you cannot legally get in Metro Detroit. Cuban cigars. All-nude strip clubs. Sex for money.

All legit here. And the providers of such goods and services expect booming business during Super Bowl week.

Stores like Havana Heaven in downtown Windsor are stocking up with hundreds of extra cigars that can cost as much as $75 apiece. Clubs like Cheetah's of Windsor say women from around the world have been applying in droves to bare it all and dance during Super Bowl week. And escort services like Chantal's Angels have received reservation requests from clients for over a year. Several agencies dropped names of celebrities as potential customers.

"It's like a dream," said Renaldo Agostino, marketing director for Katzman Enterprises, owner of four all-nude clubs in Windsor and one strip club in Detroit, where Michigan law allows topless dancing. "What can be better for us than the Super Bowl?"

The Super Bowl is many things beyond the National Football League's championship game.

It's an international event that draws 100,000 visitors, 3,000 journalists and a bevy of celebrities. It's an economic engine that will pump $342 million into the area, according to a Detroit Super Bowl XL host committee study.

Detroit boosters say the real legacy of the Super Bowl will be a revived downtown after decades of struggle.

The Motown Winter Blast and the NFL Experience, a sprawling interactive football exhibit to be staged at Cobo Center, are some of the dozens of family-oriented events to be offered during Super Bowl week. And the NFL Players Gala and a bowling tournament will raise millions for charities.

Windsor will share in these wholesome events. An international VIP party and a family activity zone are expected to draw up to tens of thousands. And reservations are brisk at upscale eateries and in areas like the city's Little Italy section, with its small-town feel and clean, quiet streets.

But the Super Bowl also attracts lots of glitz and celebrations of the flesh. American magazines such as Penthouse, Maxim and Sports Illustrated will host lavish, racy parties at Metro Detroit nightclubs. But when it comes to hedonistic pleasures, Windsor will take the lead.

Cuban cigars are banned in the United States because of icy relations with the island's communist government. The problem is Havana cigars are widely regarded as the best in the world, and there are more than a dozen Cuban cigar shops in Windsor. Many say Americans are their best customers, though it's illegal to bring them across the border.

"We expect a 100 percent increase in sales, easy," said Sasha Pupovac, owner of Havana Heaven on Chatham Street downtown.

Many stores claim to sell Cuban cigars, but often the cigars are fakes, Pupovac said. But Havana Heaven has the aroma of fine aged cubanoswafting through its small, tidy shop, which has a walk-in humidor and a corner where you can smoke and sip cappuccino.

"We hope the Super Bowl will be even better for us than the auto show," Pupovac said as he puffed on a $35 Cohiba Robusto. The North American International Auto Show in Detroit is always great for sales, Pupovac said.

Down the street from Havana Heaven are Cheetah's and several other all-nude clubs that are commonly referred to as the "Windsor Ballet."

The owners of Cheetah's say they have received hundreds of applications from women who want to dance during Super Bowl week. Several American radio stations also want to broadcast in the club, and Agostino said it is considering those offers. He expects 10,000 visitors during Super Bowl week.

"The Super Bowl is more than an event. It's like this giant monster coming our way," he said.

At clubs like Cheetah's, you can watch but not touch. For that you need to go to one of the 100 licensed escort services in Windsor.

Canadian law permits the exchange of money for sex between consenting adults. It doesn't allow brothels. It doesn't allow public solicitation, as in prostitutes on street corners or pimps. But it does allow for escort services, where once an escort and a client get behind closed doors, say in a hotel room, they can agree to do many things, including have sex.

"We've been getting calls for reservations for about a year now," said Chantal Goyette, owner of Chantal's Angels, which became the first licensed escort service in Ontario when it opened in 1996. She also runs the Studio 333 massage salons, where "sensual" massages are available.

Massage salons are also adding staff, and new salons are gearing to open before Super Bowl week.

Like many businesses during Super Bowl week, Goyette is trying to balance the many demands of her clients.

"I've got clients who say they want private parties for 200 of their friends and our girls," Goyette said. She has 15 escorts, many of whom are also masseuses.

"I've got clients who say they want to hire our services for the whole day and I'm trying hard to figure out how to accommodate everyone. And then there's the clients who keep dropping all these celebrity names. I can give you names of rappers, actors.

"All I know, the Super Bowl is the best thing to happen to the Windsor economy in a long time."

You can reach Louis Aguilar at (313) 222-2760 or laguilar@detnews.com.