LOS ANGELES - Specialty retailer and distributor Peekay Inc. celebrated the grand openings of A Touch of Romance stores in Sherman Oaks and Tarzana over the weekend.
Peekay's Chief Financial Officer Kris Butt landed just in time for the celebration.
"The flight was a couple hours late, but we made it," she told AVN Novelty Business with a smile. "Doesn't the store look great? We have really good buyers that make really good choices in what they bring into the store. It's a good mix of products, quality products that we know are going to sell."
Customer comfort is the name of the game for all Peekay stores, according to Chief Operating Officer Phy Abramson.
"Part of the footprint of our stores is that pretty much anybody can come in here," she said. "We have our ‘he-she' emblem throughout the store, from the carpet to the tile and the tops of shelves. Even our cash-register area is shaped after it, and it's hanging from the ceiling above, as well."
Abramson also credited Kris Butt, the chief designer of the new stores' looks.
"Kris is the one with the vision," she said. "A lot of the design elements are designed around the emblem and mixed with the color purple. Kris wanted to own the color purple like Target owns the color red and Starbucks owns green. We own purple, and that's been a driving force for decorating the stores."
Each store has a restricted area, separated by a castle-like wall, that houses all of the "adult" merchandise, items for customers who are at least 18 years old.
"Customers can choose whether or not they want to come back into the castle-themed area," Abramson said. "It's their choice. They can strictly stay up front and just shop our lingerie, shoes, lotions and novelty sections, if that's what they are more comfortable with."
Butt shared with ANB her reason for choosing a castle theme for the over-18 areas of the stores.
"The castle is ancient in history, and sexuality transcends all generations," she said. "Sexuality is natural. It's a part of our history."
At A Touch of Romance, consumer education is essential. Abramson explained that Butt also made sure that display tables were interactive, allowing customers to touch the toys and experience what they are like.
An example of this is the condom-display table with customer-built air pumps that keep display condoms inflated 24 hours a day.
"When we bought Condom Revolution, we discovered there was a lot more to selling condoms than just laying them flat on a table next to a bowl," Butt explained. "It doesn't do the condom justice. The air pumps built in allow customers to touch and feel the condoms. They can feel the texture and see the shape of them and really understand what they are buying."
Butt said the Sherman Oaks location will serve as the company's model for upgrading its other locations.
"We have three big remodels coming up," she said. "Remodeling a store is a way of saying ‘thank you' to the consumer for being our customer. We want them to be comfortable and have an easy place to shop."
Peekay plans to celebrate with another grand opening for it's recently opened A Touch of Romance store in West Los Angeles in January. To date, Peekay has 10 A Touch of Romance stores.
Photo galleries are available by clicking, Sherman Oaks or Tarzana .
