StorErotica.com - Adult Store Forums, Magazine & Convention

It never hurts to remember our own inital adjustment to the world of erotic retail.

I have a porn drawer at work.  It’s not even a secret porn drawer.  Seriously, just look in the bottom drawer of my filing cabinet.  There, one will find a random assortment of fine new releases in a wealth of genres.  What can I say?  I rather enjoy being the Santa Claus of porn amongst my friends.  Besides which, porn makes a great gift.

In our graphic designer’s office, a glittery purple dildo is suctioned firmly to the dry erase board.  I’ve actually watched my editor write around the dildo; I’ve seen it carefully replaced if it falls off.  It’s the unofficial mascot of our office, second only to the office dog, Boudreaux. 

In other offices, we have tasteful erotic art in huge prints, and framed magazine covers featuring exotic dancers and porn stars.  On a given day, the coffee table —which an unwitting walk-in office-supply salesman may sit in front of—sex toys or enhancement products are strewn about.  If it weren’t for the boss’ constant requests for tidiness, it would have undoubtedly grown into The Mountain of Adults-Only (Highest Point: Avert-Your-Eyes Peak) long ago.

And I see practically none of it.

My eyes pass right over these things in the same way other people stop seeing the stapler on their desk or the milk in the fridge; everything melds into the landscape.  My coworkers are the same way.  And, undoubtedly, the same goes for retailers of adult novelty and lingerie.

We write all the time about making sure your stores are female-friendly, your displays are tasteful, your property clean and welcoming; yet it still so easy to forget our own initial adjustment period we’ve all experienced when wandered into the realm as wide-eyed cherubs.  We are truly on the inside of an industry that, even for progressive, young and open-minded consumers, is still equal parts enigma and amusement, with, at times, a dash of concealed embarrassment.  A recent conversation with a best friend from college brought this realization back to me. 

We’ll call her Wanda, in order to spare her the potential of being found in a Google name search by a coworker or future employer on some website called ‘Storerotica.’  (Also, she’s a kid at heart and still watches copious amounts of Nickelodeon.) 

Wanda is a great example of the customers we need to keep in mind.  She’s a progressive, single, young professional in a trendy city and with income to spare; the sort of person who could definitely walk into your store on a given day without being dragged in there by a flock of friends hell-bent on replicating one or more scenes from “Sex and the City.”  She’s also the sort of person who never has walked into an adult store.

Hence my excitement in finding out she had attended her first home party.  Of course, my first question was, did she buy anything (just a vanilla-flavored lube and some body spray—typical beginner fare) followed by, “Well, what did you think?”

“The dildos and vibrators were funny, but seemed to be all the same thing, just with different names and colors,” responded Wanda.  “And I still don’t understand why someone would want a dildo that lights up.”

And that, right there, is why you need to ask yourself when you last looked at your store, your advertisements, your layout and your employees with fresh eyes.  Of course, you can’t simply take the adult nature out of adult products, and you can’t succeed in business if you cater to the most squeamish denominator of customers; but what do you see when you look at your store?  Do you carry a distinct array of products?  Are they understandable on their own?  Is there easy-to-understand language, either on the packaging, or which you’ve provided, that can translate clearly to unwitting customers? 

Take, for example, the We-Vibe.  Wanda’s admitted, “I just thought it would get really crowded.”   We can, as Insiders Who Know Better, chuckle at the thought, but we also need to be ever-mindful that this is what our customers think every day.