New Charlotte studio with stripper pole worries neighbors. It’s no strip club, owner says

With walls painted black, plumes of feathers on the wall, a stripper pole and purple silks dripping from the ceiling, just what exactly is the new business that just opened in a north Charlotte shopping center?

That’s what dozens of neighbors in the area have been asking on social media. The last thing they want or need in their community, they said, is a strip club.

The site in question is called Millionaire Social, and its owner, Amiah Nicks, swatted away concerns that it’s going to be a strip club. In an interview with The Charlotte Observer, Nicks described Millionaire Social as a pole art dance academy.

“We train a school of art. I am not a stripper teacher. I am not a stripper,” she said. “I don’t want to offend anyone.”

Millionaire Social’s first classes in pole dancing started Jan. 29 at 8110 Mt Holly-Huntersville Road. With interior renovations still underway, the studio’s official debut and open house is scheduled for April 20, Nicks said. It’s also a celebration of her 40th birthday.

Her new business is in Long Creek Village shopping center, which also includes a Food Lion and a daycare.

Millionaire Social dance classes include pole, cabaret, pilates, silks and lyra, a form of aerial acrobatics seen at popular Cirque du Soleil and Las Vegas shows. “This is where you would come to prepare for shows like that,” Nicks said. “This is a school of art for people to perfect their gifts.”

Following weeks of training sessions, students will perform during a dinner theater show for family and friends. Tickets also will be available to the public.

Neighbors have questions

A post on the Nextdoor app wondering about just what Millionaire Social offered drew about 150 comments.

Some folks welcomed the business. As one person wrote, “It looks like an aerial ropes class and pole dancing class studio! ... Aerial classes are no joke... Super cool to watch.”

But others remained wary about their future neighbors, with one posting, “There are no window coverings as yet. My son was in food lion yesterday and could see all the girls dancing in skant (sic) clothing. It’s just a business that does not fit into this neighborhood.”

Brittany Marsh, who lives across the street from Millionaire’s Social, said vague wording in online ads for the club lead her to think it’s going to be an adult entertainment operation.

“You can speculate about it,” Marsh told The Charlotte Observer in an interview. “But when the owner says on her personal page that it’s a gentlemen’s club, that kind of indeed solidifies that it is indeed a gentlemen’s club.”

On Nicks’ personal TikTok account, she interchangeably talks about opening a “gentlemen’s club” and Millionaire Social several times dating back to 2022.

“I’m the first female in Charlotte NC opening a gentleman’s club legitimately,” Nicks said Nov. 5, 2023, on TikTok.

On Nov. 19, one person asks on TikTok if Millionaire Social is a gentlemen’s club. Nicks replied “Kinda but nooo.” After the person said they were confused, Nicks replied: “It’s a dinner theater, like a dinner and a show.”

But Nicks told the Observer that those TikTok posts mentioning the “gentlemen’s club” referred to a separate business venture in Kings Mountain that Nicks said she decided not to pursue.

Nicks explained that as an influencer, she didn’t remove the videos referring to the “gentlemen’s club” because she gets paid by the click. She has over 10,000 followers on TikTok, which she said was spurred on by those posts. But by last Wednesday afternoon and after answering questions from the Observer, TikToks referring to Millionaire Social as a gentlemen’s club, and several other posts, had been removed.

Several of Nicks’ TikToks, including on Jan. 13, advertised hiring for dancers, DJs, stage crew and bartenders. The same day, Nicks said Millionaire Social offers “a performing arts program for the entertainer.”

Millionaire Social is described as a dinner theater on Nicks’ TikTok, a dance and night club on Instagram, and a “cutting-edge dance institution” on its website. It’s not a club or a gym, and no alcohol will be served, Nicks told the Observer.

Hearing the neighbors’ concerns

Marsh said the business is not right for the area, noting that a daycare and a dance studio for children are in the same shopping center nearby. “Everybody is just really concerned about the kind of business and the kind of people it’s going to bring to the area,” she said.

Nicks is aware of neighbors’ concerns. “I think it’s because it’s new to this side of town,” she said. There are other pole dance studios and fitness centers in the Charlotte region, such as Catwoman Pole Academy in South End.

Nicks said she welcomed neighbors to stop by and learn more about the academy.

So what does the zoning allow?

The Millionaire Social property isn’t zoned for a strip club. The center is zoned for uses that include retail, restaurant and personal services under the B-1(CD) (neighborhood business, conditional) rule, said Charlotte Zoning Administrator Solomon Fortune.

“If this becomes an adult establishment, code enforcement would be sent out to investigate,” Fortune told the Observer. “If this is an adult establishment, they would not be in compliance with the conditional plan and previous zoning ordinance.”

Pole dancing could fall under the usage allowed for a fitness or dance studio, Fortune said.

What to expect at Millionaire Social

Pole dancing isn’t just an art, it’s a sport, Nicks said. She and her instructors have competed in pole sport fitness competitions, bringing home several awards, she said.

Millionaire Social’s classes will be taught by certified fitness instructors, according to Nicks.

Its dinner theater will showcase students’ work. A rotating group of performers will ensure no two visits are the same, according to Millionaire Social’s description on Yelp. Ticket prices have not yet been set.

The dinner theater idea was inspired by a trip to Dubai two years ago where Nicks visited Billionaire club, a dinner show and club. “They have contortionists and lyre and silks while enjoying a five-course meal,” Nicks said.

Millionaire Social classes are open to women ages 18 and older, and vary by skill level. There are four session packages that range from $80 to $550, according to the website. There’s also a one-time 35-minute pole or alternative class for $25.

Rebuilding confidence

Back in 2011 when Nicks bought her first pole and started to teach herself how to pole dance, she was going through a divorce and had low self-esteem, she said.

The next year, at age 27, Nicks quit her job as a nurse to open ATTP Dance Studio in southeast Philadelphia. It was the first pole fitness studio in the area, she said.

She found inspiration in 2013 competing against a 62-year-old woman named Greta Pontarelli at a pole competition in Florida. Pontarelli began pole dancing at age 59 to stay in shape, which led to her competing and becoming a 13-time world pole art champion.

In 2016, a year after moving to Charlotte, Nicks opened ATTP Dance Studio at 1533 South Blvd., later moving it to 9620 University City Blvd. In 2020, ATTP closed because of the pandemic. But Nicks continued individual lessons and taught classes online.

Finally, last fall, she found the 3,600-square-foot out-parcel building to reopen her studio with a different name and concept at a shopping center anchored by Food Lion.

“It (pole dancing) helped rebuild my confidence,” Nicks said. “And I’ve seen what it has done for other women, too.”