Adult novelty retailers are increasingly turning to the artistic community and hosting gallery openings intended to drive traffic to brick-and-mortar stores, but the tactic doesn't appear to yield the same sales results as the tried-and-true method of hosting sex education classes.
"In terms of sales immediately following the event, there's more from a class than an art opening," said Camilla Lombard, events and promotions coordinator at Good Vibrations. "The appeal to having art exhibits in adult stores is to make it like a normal outing to go to a sex toy store. It's not something to be ashamed of; it's a public event."
She qualified that both art openings and classes will drive sales, but the latter has more immediately visible results. At both types of events, Good Vibrations distributes postcards offering special discounts, which enables staff to keep track of whether event attendees become buyers.
"With the art openings, it's people in the artist's community who all know each other, and they get a thrill hanging out in a sex toy shop. But at the end of the day, people tend to be pretty shy about buying sex toys in front of people they know. The art people tend to return later to buy, so these events are an investment in the future," said Lombard.
By contrast, attendees of classes and workshops usually aren't already acquaintances, and the nature of the instruction loosens inhibitions to the point that the participants feel more comfortable about buying sex toys in front of each other.
Good Vibrations hosts $25 after-hour classes plus free workshops at least once a month in all four of their physical store locations, but only one of the sites has art exhibits. They change more-or-less monthly, kicking off with a party or reception.
Receptions might draw about 75 people, whereas paid classes have a head count of around 10 and free workshops get as many as 40 attendees.
"I'd say neither classes nor gallery openings are immediately good to sales," said Sarah Forbes-Roberts, one of three co-owners of Toronto's Come As You Are, which hosts art openings once every other month.
Come As You Are doesn't take a cut on any of the art that sells in the store, giving all proceeds directly to the artist.
"This is bringing people in who otherwise might not go to a sex store," said Forbes-Roberts. "And it's our way to participate with the artist community in Toronto. And there are artists who have erotic work that other galleries don't want to deal with because it's erotic in nature."
Forbes-Roberts said that Come As You Are leaves it up to the featured artists to decide whether to have an opening reception for new exhibits. And once a year, the store hosts a group show featuring multiple artists.
Come As You Are has classes and workshops as often as three times a month, and also hosts discussion nights that have included book readings and author signings.
Meanwhile, San Francisco retailer Stormy Leather had its first ever gallery opening this February for a photography exhibit focused on minority women.
Kirsten Griffith, manager at Stormy Leather, worked with local dominatrix Miss Hart to coordinate the exhibition. People who attended the gallery opening received cards offering a 10 percent store discount.
"The discount is a thank you for coming to the gallery opening," said Griffith, who noted that the sales ensuing from the events make them profitable.
She sees customers redeem the discount cards over a two-month period following the reception. Class attendees, on the other hand, tend to use their discount cards much sooner, said Griffith.
Griffith said she expects Stormy Leather will have its next gallery opening around June, while the parent company, JT's Stockroom, is just beginning to plan events for its physical store location in Los Angeles, which has yet to host its first class, let alone a gallery opening.
Gallery openings don't immediately translate into gift shop sales at New York's Museum of Sex, albeit for different reasons than other retailers cite.
"We don't keep the shop open during gallery opening nights," said Noelle Daidone, director of public relations and special events at the Museum of Sex. She explained that openings require work from the same staff who would otherwise work in the gift store.
"We don't necessarily see any change in sales at the gift shop" after classes, she said. "There may be a spike at the beginning of a new exhibit. The gallery openings are icebreakers. They help us build a community of followers that come to all of our events."
Most retailers don't have anywhere near the gallery space enjoyed by an entity like a Museum of Sex. For instance, Pleasure Chest's New York store location doesn't have room for classes, let alone artwork.
So far, Pleasure Chest hasn't installed art at any of its three stores, but the Chicago store might have space for a couple of pieces, said David Ballow, national director of operations.
The Chicago store is the only one of Pleasure Chest's venues that offers classes and workshops and gives attendees a 10 percent discount, only valid the night of the events.
Ballow and other sources interviewed for this story have credited Good Vibrations with pioneering the art of gallery openings and classes as promotions for sex stores.
Good Vibrations' staff sexologist Carol Queen explained that founder "Joani Blank herself started the practice of art shows, book launches, and classes at GV. The point of both these and the in-store classes was very simple: guerilla marketing. They allowed people who might not feel comfortable coming to the store to shop a reason to come to the store for another purpose."
