Calendar Girls is launching live online strip shows this weekend. Photo / Supplied
A New Zealand strip club empire locked down by coronavirus is moving its shows online.
Calendar Girls closed all three of its R18 strip joints in Christchurch, Wellington and in Auckland's Karangahape Rd on March 23.
"Covid-19 has put all three clubs on ice until such time as hospitality can trade again," a spokesman for the gentleman's club told the Herald.
"Everyone at Calendar Girls and thousands of people around New Zealand are clearly disappointed."
Now Calendar Girls is launching a new live webcam site this weekend, with dancers filming from their own homes.
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And while it'll normally be a $9 per month subscription, it's free for customers while New Zealand is locked down at alert level 3 or 4.
Punters can watch on their phones, computers, or TV in a free, open forum before requesting a private chatroom "with who they like the look of".
CGslive.com will feature "real girls from Calendar Girls" along with other international showgirls and have options for chatting in a public chatroom or a two-way video streaming in private. They've also invited any dancers from other clubs as a "gesture of goodwill to our fellow entertainers without income" during the Covid-19 restrictions.
Subscribers can even tip the dancers, by either buying tokens on the site or through purchasing their very own merchandise, which each individual dancer selling photographs, videos, signed clothing or other merchandise on their profiles.
Club bosses say an online site and app had been in development for months before coronavirus landed on New Zealand shores.
But with the closing of the clubs, and not knowing when they could reopen again, the online shift was fast-tracked.
They hope it will bring welcome relief for their dancers who have seen a "tremendous loss of income".
"I think we all know how much entertainers like money," the club spokesman said.
Every profile on the site is run by the model themselves as their own private enterprise to manage how they like.
Calendar Girls has been teasing the online shows through its social media channels for weeks. More than 2800 people have already signed up.
"We have had a very positive response as webcamming is now becoming more and more popular," the spokesman said.
• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website
"It is a great way to be entertained in the comfort of your own home with the chance of subscribers also coming to meet the girls at our clubs not just online."
The Herald understands that the site is going live this weekend but the exact day and time is being kept under wraps for now. Calendar Girls say they will reveal the launch time through social media.
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