SEATTLE—Rachel Venning and Claire Cavanah—who founded the feminist and sex-positive adult boutique Toys in Babeland, now known as the small adult retail chain Babeland—have sold their company to San Francisco-based adult retail chain Good Vibrations.
“It’s been a joy and an adventure to start and grow Babeland,” Vening said in a statement released by the company. “I have enormous gratitude for all the customers, staff, and community that have been part of this. I’m ready for a new adventure. Having Good Vibrations take over makes it easier to let go because we share so many of the same feminist values.”
Cavanah and Venning opened the first Babeland store in 1993 in response to the lack of women-friendly sex shops in Seattle. The store offered top-quality products, a pleasant place to shop, and most of all information and encouragement to women who wanted to explore their sexuality.
The details of the deal are not being released, but the sale is expected to be finalized by next month, the Seattle Times reported. According to the Seattle Times article, the Babeland locations and website will continue to operate under the Babeland name.
“I don’t yet know all the specifics of of the sale, so I can’t speak to the ‘why’ of it all,” said Lynn Comella, author of the upcoming book Vibrator Nation: How Feminist Sex-Toy Stores Changed the Business of Pleasure (Amazon.com).
Comella noted the sale of Babeland to Good Vibrations in a way reunites the two chains.
“It’s really interesting to have this come sort of full circle,” she said, noting that when Cavanah and Venning planned to open their store in Seattle, they sought out advice from Joani Blank, who opened Good Vibrations in 1977. Cavanah traveled to San Francisco and worked an internship at Good Vibrations and took what she learned there back to Seattle.
Today, Babeland is recognized around the world as a welcoming place to shop for sex toys, books and videos. It is a women-friendly sex toy store with three locations in New York City, a flagship store in Seattle, and a website, Babeland.com.
Babeland has received numerous honors, including Zagat Survey Awards for Top Service in New York City in 2003 and 2006. It was voted Best Place to Buy Sex Toys by City Search, the Village Voice, New York magazine, New York Press, Miami New Times, Seattle's The Stranger and Seattle Weekly.
Today, Babeland employs 60 people; no layoffs are expected following the sale.
Good Vibrations is a premier retailer trusted for 40 years to provide high-quality products, education and information that promotes sexual health, pleasure and empowerment. Good Vibes invented the concept of the of the clean, well-lighted vibrator store and has stayed true to its core mission to provide a safe and welcoming boutique environment where customers can shop for sex toys and books and attend workshops.
“Promoting sexual health and pleasure has been at the core of Good Vibrations and Babeland for decades. This acquisition represents a powerful synergy where both brands can grow successfully and fulfill the founders’ visions of a more sex-positive world,” Jackie Rednour-Bruckman, executive vice president of Good Vibrations, said in a statement about the acquistion.
This is not the first time the Good Vibrations chain has acquired another sex-positive store and continued to operate it under its own brand. As AVN reported in April 2016, Good Vibrations acquired Camouflage adult boutique in Santa Cruz, California.
Rednour-Bruckman said at the time, “While part of the Good Vibrations family, Camouflage will continue to run independently and retain its unique and playful spirit. Longtime staff are still at the helm to help provide a fun and sexy place along Pacific Avenue in downtown Santa Cruz.”
Comella said it makes sense the stores will combine, since they have similar missions and goals, and have made major impacts not only in the industry, but in sexual health and business as a whole.
“The cultural impact Babeland has had—not just in Seattle, but also in New York—and the significance of the chain to its communities and customers is incalculable,” she said. “When they opened in 1993, they were one of only a handful of other stores—Eve’s Garden, Good Vibrations, Grand Opening—that were promoting the ideas that everyone deserved sexual information and greater pleasure.
“I am just so happy that the Babeland brand and its identity will continue to live on,” she added.
For more, visit Babeland.com or GoodVibrations.com.
