Alberta boom boosts sex toy business
Sex sells, as the old adage goes. And Albertans are certainly buying.
In fact, business has never been better, says Sandra Weeks, owner of Edmonton-based Sensual Secrets, a company that sells sex toys, lingerie and other related products.
"The boom definitely has helped," she told Sun Media, adding that while Albertans seem to be working hard in the overheated economy, they're also playing hard. "They want to have more fun, too."
Nine years ago, Weeks spotted a magazine list of the top 10 industries predicted to flourish in the future. The sex toy industry was No. 2, behind personal trainers, she recalled.
It was around that time that she was launching Sensual Secrets. Less than a decade later, the well-established company - which specializes in sex toy parties - continues to grow, with Weeks posting her best profits last year.
Heading toward Christmas and the start of winter, Weeks is expecting 2007 to be another banner year.
"It's like Tupperware parties, only with better quality plastic," the 43-year-old said of her sex toy parties.
Weeks's company, which is run out of her Edmonton home, has been bolstered by her website www.sensualsecrets.org.
Most of her online shoppers hail from Alberta, with a large amount of interest coming from Grande Prairie.
Her top-selling product is Sexciting Cream, a $27 lotion that helps put women in the mood.
Weeks's priciest product among her top 10 sellers is a top-of-the-line vibrator dubbed "Decadent Indulgence" that sells for $169.
"It's the Cadillac of vibrators," she explained. "It has all the bells and whistles."
While women comprise much of her clientele, Weeks said men are also shelling out for her pleasure-producing products.
Don Wilhelm, who co-owns Calgary-based Little Shop of Pleasures with partner Christine Nelson, said he, too, has witnessed a "phenomenal growth" in business since breaking into the industry eight years ago - especially within the last three years.
He attributes at least part of that to Alberta's red-hot economy.
Customers, ranging from 20-year-olds to senior citizens, seem to be willing to spend a little bit more for better-quality products, Wilhelm said.
"There's been a fairly big explosion over the past five years in the number of sex toys and the quality of sex toys," he said.
"There's nothing in my store that anyone needs," he pointed out.
"It's all stuff that people want."
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Business/News/2007/11/18/4665406-sun.htm
