Nasstoys, also known as Novelties by Nasswalk, Inc., is proudly celebrating three successful decades in the business of pleasure at the AVN Novelty Expo this July.
Nasstoys was originally founded by Teddy Rothstein and cousins, Irwin and Elliot Schwartz, when the trio began manufacturing and distributing Spanish Fly liquid in a variety of flavors. At the time, they were located in a small facility in downtown Manhattan and also making sexual enhancement pills.
"Back in the '80s, New York City's Times Square was a red light district, triple-X playground," says Nasstoys President Elliot Schwartz. "The market for novelties and sexual paraphernalia in adult bookstores was ripe. New York City was the home of Plato's Retreat, Studio 54, and The Hellfire Club-a perfect testing ground for merchandise of a risqué nature."
This "perfect testing ground," consisting of retail shops and adult newspapers, provided an ideal venue for the fledgling Nasstoys partners to begin importing and packaging goods from Asia for sale in adult bookstores.
"In the early '70s, it was illegal to sell dildos and sexual novelties in New York City," Schwartz continues. "After a visit to the West Coast where this merchandise was being sold in stores, Ted, Irwin, and I put the schlongs in four Times Square stores, took the bust and won the case!"
Schwartz credits West Coast domestic novelty manufacturers-and personal friends-at Doc Johnson, Topco Sales, and Great Western Lithography in helping to launch Nasstoys's first ‘Made in the U.S.A.' line of novelties. The line was complete with the packaging and marketing literature the manufacturer needed to get it off the ground.
"Ted's [Rothstein] tenure in the newspaper and periodical distribution business was invaluable in moving Nasstoys items across the country through a network of valued distributors," Schwartz explains.
Rothstein also credits Schwartz as having a hand in the success of the product launch "back in the day".
"Elliot's creative imagination, foresight, and honest sales hustle enabled Nasstoys to expand the product line to include numerous additional top-selling-and often duplicated-items like Sta-Hard, Anal Eze, China Shrink
Cream, and Nympho Cream," Rothstein says.
In the next three decades the company would see three major expansions from lower Manhattan to the Brooklyn waterfront and, finally, to their current location in New Jersey, directly across the Hudson River from New York. Nasstoys's catalog now boasts over 1,000 top-selling items.
"The Nasstoys product line today contains items which sell in a variety of markets including the internet, home party planners, lingerie stores, and good old-fashioned seedy XXX bookstores," Rothstein continues. "We have a tremendous web presence and have expanded our distribution network internationally."
Rothstein also notes that the Nasstoys family of employees is comprised of "some of the best talent, taken from the adult video and publishing industries as well as corporate, mainstream."
"A large percentage of Nasstoys employees have been with the company for at least 20 years," he says. "We're celebrating that and our 30 year anniversary by rolling back prices on some of our original items to the original 1978 prices for the July ANE show. Additionally, we will be releasing a number of moderately priced, recession-proof novelties, which enable [end] customers to fill their tank, drive to your store, and keep coming back for more!"
Among the new releases being unveiled at the AVN Novelty Expo, Nasstoys Sales Manager Kathryn Hartman tells ANB she is excited about the Party Girl line.
"The Party Girl Ribbed Jelly Plugs and Party Girl Ultimate Smooth Egg [have] gorgeous packaging that will do extremely well on a retail level," she says. "The Party Girl plugs feature a super suction cup base, are waterproof, four-speed, with an extra long cord. The Party Girl Eggs are also waterproof and four-speed with a smooth finish, nongraphic packaging and can be used for stimulation or insertion. These are must haves for summer!"
Nasstoys
2075 91st St.
North Bergen, NJ 07047
201-861-6302
Nasstoys.com
