Larry Kaplan speaks with store manager Kate Youngblood about what adult toy commerce looks like off of the interstate.
(Note: This article was published in the February issue of SE Magazine.)
Adult retail looks very different depending on where a store is located and who it serves. At Passions Adult Boutique in Boonville, Missouri, the customer base ranges from local regulars to truck drivers and travelers passing through on the interstate. In this interview with StorErotica Legal Correspondent Larry Kaplan, store manager Katie Youngblood talks about her path from corporate retail to managing an adult boutique, the realities of running a rural adult store and how Passions balances pricing, privacy and customer comfort in a less traditional market.
SE: Before you started at Passions Adult Boutique, you worked at a bowling alley. Tell me how you ended up managing an adult retail store.
Youngblood: Yeah, I worked at the corporate-owned bowling alley in town, where you had to wear a very specific uniform and follow strict appearance rules. It got to the point where I didn’t want to wear certain articles of clothing anymore. Instead of asking me directly to put on that clothing, my manager at the time asked my boyfriend, who didn’t even work there and was just a customer, to ask me. That’s not the kind of environment I wanted to be in.
SE: You discovered Passions as a customer, and then you were looking for a local, less corporate place to work. What was it about the atmosphere or the people at Passions that made you think, “This feels like something I want to be doing every day,” and how has that shaped the way you run the Boonville Passions Boutique?
Youngblood: The staff was really friendly. They were unique, and they seemed like they were able to be themselves. They weren’t just reading from a cookie-cutter script. They passed along a lot of information, whether it was something they’d heard from other customers or something they’d learned themselves. They were easy to talk to and informative.
SE: That sounds very different from the work environment you were coming from. You handle nearly all of the day-to-day operations at the Boonville Passions location. What does a typical day look like for you?
Youngblood: Typically, I’ll process the purchase order online, adjust quantities, help customers while they’re in the store and then, during downtime, clean and organize products. I make sure merchandise is pulled to the front and remove expired products.
SE: And how would you describe the Boonville customer base? How does it differ from that of the other Passions Adult Boutiques?
Youngblood: We definitely get a lot more truck drivers here than at the Columbia store. Even though we’re a much smaller store, we have a bigger parking lot. We still get a wide variety of customers, from young to old. We get some walk-in traffic, and being right off the interstate, we see people who are traveling across the country and stopping in at all of the adult stores along the way. For some customers, this is their first time ever being in an adult store.
SE: What are the biggest challenges and advantages of running an adult store in a rural or interstate highway market like yours?
Youngblood: The biggest disadvantage is definitely the slower flow of customers. We’re not in town, so we’re not as easy to get to on a lunch break or on the way home from work. Sales are more sporadic, and we don’t get as many repeat customers as other stores do, which means we don’t always get immediate feedback.
Instead of hearing, “Hey, I bought this last week,” it’s more like, “Oh, I was here last year, and I liked a toy,” but they don’t remember the brand or name of that toy. A lot of customers also ask, “What have you heard about this toy?” and I have to explain that I don’t get a lot of feedback, so I don’t always hear much about specific products.
The advantages are that we’re outside the city limits, so we have a lower tax rate, and the slower customer traffic creates opportunities for more one-on-one time with customers. If they have questions or really want help finding something specific, there’s plenty of time and space to walk through options.
“Internet trends have a big influence on customer demand. When something goes viral on Facebook, TikTok or Instagram, we see a noticeable increase in requests and try to keep [that product] in stock.”
— Katie Youngblood
SE: How do you decide what products to carry for a customer base that values both familiarity and value?
Youngblood: Internet trends have a big influence on customer demand. When something goes viral on Facebook, TikTok or Instagram, we see a noticeable increase in requests and try to keep it in stock. But we also have to balance popularity with price. If our cost goes up to the point where customers aren’t willing to pay for it anymore, we’ll discontinue an item.
SE: And I’m sure with the tariffs, everything is probably going up.
Youngblood: Yeah, we stopped carrying certain lines because the prices were going to be too high, and they just weren’t going to sell in the store.
SE: I understand you try to price things similarly to online prices to stay competitive.
Youngblood: A lot of people walk around the store looking items up online to see if they’re available elsewhere, if the price matches or if it’s something they’re willing to buy right now. With how much online shopping there is, that happens all the time.
SE: How do you help customers with very different comfort levels feel at ease when they walk into the store?
Youngblood: We never pressure anyone. We just ask simple questions. We always greet customers when they come in and ask if they want to see items out of the package, because some people are too shy to ask, especially with something personal like a butt plug. Nobody wants to buy a butt plug that’s too big and then never use it.
SE: Are there product categories that consistently perform best in Boonville?
Youngblood: Male enhancement supplements, clearance items and lube sell the best. Because we are the chain’s outlet store, a lot of our business comes from highway traffic and our billboards advertising clearance items at up to 75% off. And almost everybody needs lube for something, so that category always does really well.
Customers also know that our clearance items are brand-new toys. Nothing has been returned or exchanged, it’s just product we were able to buy at a deal and sell at a deal.
SE: What misconceptions do people have about adult stores in smaller rural communities?
Youngblood: People think they’re all dark and dirty, or that if someone sees their car in the parking lot, they’ll say, “Oh, I saw Nancy at the adult store.” There’s also this idea that adult stores are only for the kinkiest people or the extremes, not for everyday, average folks.
SE: In terms of buying, what are your top two or three selling toy and novelty brands?
Youngblood: CalExotics, Evolved and Blush.
SE: And what are your top two or three selling lubes? And is there a particular clearance or discounted lube that sells well?
Youngblood: Wicked, Jo and Sliquid are our top brands. For a deal, Slippery Stuff Gel sells really well. It’s our best price-per-ounce lubricant.
SE: And what are your top two or three selling lingerie brands?
Youngblood: Boonville doesn’t do a lot of lingerie sales. Most of those happen at our Columbia store. I believe their biggest sellers are Playboy and Leg Avenue.
Larry Kaplan is a broker specializing in the sale and purchase of adult retail stores and adult nightclubs, and the Executive Director of ACE of Michigan, the state trade association for adult nightclubs. For 25 years, Mr. Kaplan has been the Legal Correspondent for ED Publications. Contact Larry Kaplan at 313-815-3311 or email larry@kaplanstoresales.com.
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