Are lingerie and novelty retailers immune to the ills facing other retailers?
Today Online reports that shoppers are defying the unsteady economic situation to spice up their love lives, citing, among other things, the $5 million diamond-encrusted bra released by Victoria's Secret this fall.
Babeland founder Claire Cavanah told the site, "Sales are up seven percent in the last months in stores and on the website compared to the last three months of last year." Cavanah also mentions that a $109 vibrator model had sold out in stores.
Similarly, Durex Condoms experienced a $1 million increase in sales over last year. Says Durex spokesperson Jennifer Grizzle, "At a time of a recession people tend to stay in. They do date-night in. Maybe they don't go out to dinner so much. And when you're at home, around the home fire, one thing leads to the other."
Cavanah concurs that consumers may be looking for comfort. "It's a scary time," she says. "People want to connect... I think that was a fear thing, a nesting impulse. It was the same thing after 9/11. People were afraid and we did really, really well."
Still, not all retailers are escaping the pinch. Kim Ibricevic of Eve's Garden, a sex shop in New York, told Today Online that her numbers were down and that her shop is "lucky" to survive when other stores are failing. Even so, she remains optimistic that the adult industry will weather the storm. "In the sense that this is about an activity you can do at home, yes."
Source: Today Online
