David Eliason’s blueprint for success

SE’s 2026 Hall of Fame inductee David Eliason talks litigation, loyalty and the future of adult retail at Dick & Jane’s and Bonnie & Clyde’s.

(Note: This article was originally published in the August 2026 issue of SE Magazine.)

David Eliason didn’t stumble into adult retail; he built toward it deliberately, starting in 1998 in Tampa, where he spent six years learning the business from the inside out: point-of-sale systems, CCTV, arcade installations and store operations. When he and his wife returned to South Dakota in 2004, they brought that foundation with them. After opening two stores in Sioux Falls in 2010, they headed west and opened Dick & Jane’s Naughty Spot in Sturgis, but only after suing the city just to get the doors open.

Two decades later, Eliason operates three distinctly branded stores across western South Dakota, serves as a moderator of the industry’s Pleasure Professionals Place (P3) Facebook community, sits on the Free Speech Coalition board and serves as an advisor to a private lending fund designed to give adult retail entrepreneurs access to capital that banks and the SBA won’t touch. The relationships he’s built along the way run deep.

“Since 2010, when Dick & Jane’s in Sturgis became a customer, they have been great clients,” says Eldorado Account Manager James Noblitt. “In getting to know David over the years, he and his staff have become more than customers — we consider them family.”

StorErotica Legal Correspondent Larry Kaplan spoke with Eliason about building a brand in a conservative market, preparing for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, competing with online retail and why he believes being proactive, not reactive, is the most valuable lesson he’s learned.

SE: When you and your wife decided to return to South Dakota in 2004, how did your operational background in Tampa shape the kind of stores you wanted to build?

Eliason: I was blessed to have that opportunity in Tampa because it gave me a really good mix. I got to see the original old-school “dark overcoat and hat” stores, as well as stores like the Todd Couples Superstore, which were early innovators in the adult boutique space. So when we came to South Dakota, I knew that for a store to thrive in a conservative marketplace, we needed to follow the Todd model: well-lit, bright colors, welcoming and inviting to every audience.

Retail took off so strongly at our first store that, as the running joke went, we were driving a water truck into the desert. We eventually found a separate interstate-centric location for the booths, with separate entrances for retail and arcade. Most retail customers don’t even realize the booths are there unless they’re looking for that. Creating that dynamic was really important so everyone would feel welcome.

We follow a practice called Four Corners and Four Walls; we check the four corners of the property first, then the four walls inside. Has the trash been picked up, the trees trimmed, the lawn mowed and the weeds pulled? Is the inventory merchandised properly? Is there something we could reposition or rotate so that when a customer returns, it almost feels like they have new products? That Florida training was the biggest distinction for us.

When we came to South Dakota, I knew that for a store to thrive in a conservative marketplace, we needed to follow the Todd [Couples Superstore] model: well-lit, bright colors, welcoming and inviting to every audience.

— David Eliason

SE: Dick & Jane’s in Sturgis, Dick & Jane’s Super Spot in Rapid City and Bonnie & Clyde’s near Ellsworth AFB each have distinct identities. Walk us through the thinking behind differentiating the brands.

Eliason: Sturgis is our OG store, 2,500 square feet, almost like a convenience store. With the VA hospital nearby, it’s a daytime-focused business. Rapid City is our flagship at 4,000 square feet, with a much broader selection of books, novelties and gifts, serving a population of 125,000–150,000.

Bonnie & Clyde’s opened June 1 in Box Elder, near Ellsworth Air Force Base and a Flying J truck stop. We’ve allocated a 20-by-20 classroom space for community classes, Fet Life Munch groups, even a casual strictly PG-13 meet-and-greet spot for the local swingers’ community. Because of the proximity to the base and the interstate, we didn’t want to risk negative branding to the Dick & Jane’s stores, so we went with a separate name. While Dick & Jane’s is more lighthearted and romantic, Bonnie & Clyde’s has a slightly more sinister, naughty feel.

SE: You had to file a federal lawsuit just to open the Sturgis store. What would you tell a first-time operator facing that kind of resistance?

Eliason: The first thing I advise anyone going into litigation is to file in federal, rather than state court. Federal judges are appointed for life; their decisions are primarily grounded in law, and federal courts have proven far more favorable to the industry than state courts.

In Sturgis, there wasn’t a single adult ordinance on the books. We did everything correctly, and the city still refused to issue a certificate of occupancy. During a deposition, the city testified under oath that its official position was that selling any adult magazines, anything containing nudity, was prohibited. The Supreme Court settled that in the ‘70s. When the city said that on the record, we knew we were in great shape.

Reach out to the Free Speech Coalition or the First Amendment Lawyers Association to find an attorney who specializes in this. If you fail to make the correct argument at the trial court level, it can be very hard to unwind. The financial stress is real; it’s a reason not to sleep well at night. But when your attorney calls to read you that decision, it ranks among the most significant moments of your life.

SE: The Sturgis Rally generates roughly 20% of that store’s annual revenue in 12 days. How do you prepare, and what’s the biggest mistake retailers make with high-volume events?

Eliason: It all relies on data. Early on, it was a guessing game — I’d wake up at 6:30 am, walk the store and submit a daily order. Now our POS tells us exactly what we need across every category. We know what sold last rally, what moved fast, what we ran out of too soon. We know people come with money in their pockets; it’s their vacation, so they’ll spend a little more than usual.

For staffing, we tried temp staff early on and quickly learned it wasn’t worth it. Paying overtime to our experienced team produced significantly higher sales. Over-ordering is always dangerous; you can get stuck sitting on inventory for months. And we put a business card in every bag. It’s fascinating watching online orders come in from Pennsylvania or New Jersey afterward. They remembered the experience, and they came back.

SE: Your stores are up 5% year-over-year. You’ve done it partly by adding vape. What does that pivot tell you about where adult retail needs to go?

Eliason: We added disposable nicotine vapes; no THC, nothing like that. The margins aren’t as good as adult products, but it’s revenue we didn’t have before. We’ve also found a lot of success with impulse items at the register: enamel pins, funny stickers and greeting cards from Sleazy Greetings. People grab a $3–5 sticker on the way out, and it just adds to the average ticket. We’re also the only adult store in town for a pretty wide geographic area, which is a significant competitive advantage.

SE: Local medical professionals refer patients to your stores. How did that develop, and how does your staff handle that responsibility?

Eliason: It actually started with Überlube, which came out of the medical space before entering adult retail. We took their medical kit to local physicians, left it with the front staff and told them we carry the line locally. Now we’re getting referrals; someone was recently sent in for a postpartum Kegel exerciser, and others for pumps to address ED.

Our team is trained through Eldorado’s Elevate U program, a multipart series of 16 lessons each, and through SWPA seminars. After completing their first 90 days and the basic Elevate U course, each new staff member receives a company business card with their name and direct email address. Customers can reach back out to the specific team member who helped them. People often drive 20–40 miles to get here, and sometimes they’ll email ahead: “Susie, are you working Friday?” We want to be their personal concierge in the sexual health and wellness space.

SE: As an FSC board member who’s litigated to get your stores open, how do you make the case that the FSC mission matters just as much to a boutique retailer in South Dakota as to a content producer in LA?

Eliason: Government overreach isn’t limited to pornography. Age-verification bills are often written so broadly that legislatures start applying them to product imagery on a website; a picture of a dildo on a retail site. And these bills increasingly include civil repercussions alongside criminal statutes. Some ambulance-chasing attorney is going to figure out that it’s less crowded than personal injury and start filing random suits against adult retailers. When Texas introduced SB2 to limit toy sales in big-box stores, some people thought that sounded great. But Walmart has an entire legal department. If the government can pull a vibrator off Walmart’s shelves, how hard do you think it’ll be to come after you?

SE: You’ve lived almost every role in this industry. What do you know now that you wish someone had told you when you opened that first store?

Eliason: I wish someone had told me to be proactive rather than reactive with local government. Because of experiences in Tampa, it became us versus them; don’t say anything, stay reactive. With Box Elder, when we were preparing to open our latest store, Bonnie & Clyde’s, I walked into the economic development office and said, “Here’s what I’m doing, here’s where I’m doing it, what steps would you like me to take to make this work?” And they’ve been wonderful.

I also wish I’d known sooner that there was a community out there; trade shows, colleagues willing to share what worked and what didn’t. The P3 group, the FSC, those resources exist now. I would have loved something like that on day one.

To join or support the Free Speech Coalition, visit freespeechcoalition.com. To find a member attorney near you, review the directory or contact the First Amendment Lawyers’ Association directly at firstamendmentlawyers.org.

Larry Kaplan is a business 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 26 years, Mr. Kaplan has been the Legal Correspondent for ED Publications. For more information, visit kaplanstoresales.com or contact Larry Kaplan at 313-815-3311 or larry@kaplanstoresales.com.