“Fu King” Smoke Shop Name Has Residents Fuming

Some residents in north New Jersey are fuming over a new smoke shop that's about to open in their neighborhood.

It's not the bongs and other paraphernalia that have them upset. They don't like the name: Fu King Smoke Shop. Picture the sign, then use your imagination.

The head of a PTA at a nearby Hackensack elementary school tells The Record that the sign “is almost like an insult to the intelligence” of the community.

“Do you really think we don't know what that is supposed to mean? That our children don't know what that means?" Fairmount School Parent Teacher Association president Michelle Tavares told the paper.

The store's owner, Robert Reichert, tells the newspaper he's gotten the proper permits -- although The Record reports he's received a summons after a zoning official disputed that.

Reichert says “Fu” is Chinese for wealth or lucky, and is part of a theme.

“It's not just words thrown up on the canvas,” he told the paper. “If they're offended by reading it, then it's the way their mind is looking at it.”

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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