A Decade Spent in NZ Sex Shops

Auckland NZ Sex Shop Life

I started a career in the wonderful world of adult stores when I moved to Auckland from the UK, ten years ago. Peaches and Cream adult stores were advertising for a retail assistant for their NZ sex shops and, being new in town and keen to find work, I applied.

After all, maybe it would be fun? My only knowledge of the adult retail industry came from shopping at Ann Summers, which is a chain of UK lingerie stores selling some sex toys. Their main focus was sexy lingerie and costumes but it was an over 18 store stocking a selection of vibrators too.

Ann Summers was very tame compared to the sex shops I encountered in New Zealand though. I am no prude, but floggers, oversized butt plugs and wall mounted dongs were all new concepts to me. The biggest (and least pleasant) surprise was what most Auckland sex stores have out in the back room!

Peaches, Gigi and many others have what are referred to as viewing rooms. In these theatres, punters can pay around $10 to enter a dark room with porn showing on multiple screens. When inside, they can meet up with other like-minded people for sex.

This hidden entertainment concept totally took me by surprise. Whilst I embraced and truly enjoyed working around selling adult toys, I was a little put off by the sleazy side to some of these stores. It just felt unnecessary. Sex shops surely didn’t need to be sleazy?

Opening Our Own Adult Store

So, after 7 years of learning the ropes, my friend and I decided to open our own sex shop, and we would do it right. We took control of an empty high street unit in Eketahuna. A small service town on State Highway 2, between Masterton and Palmerston North. And Tabu Adult Boutique was born!

We had absolutely no interest in supplying viewing rooms or selling pornography like other NZ sex shops. We simply wanted to sell good, high quality products in a modern well-presented store. Offering good advice to our customers about which products would best suit them is very important too.

We want the people who walk into our adult boutique to feel as comfortable as they do when walking into Farmers. Having made an effort to create a couple and female friendly environment, we have customers of all ages, backgrounds and walks of life coming in.

The overall public reaction is “Wow, this is so nice. Not what I expected at all.” which is always nice to hear! Whilst the lessons we learnt from our time in Auckland’s CBD and North Shore adult shops were essential, I am much happier working in the beautiful shop we have created here in Eketahuna.

On top of all of this, the chance to work with my friend Ian every day is a dream come true!

A Better Sex Toy Shopping Experience

The big cities like Auckland have plenty of stores competing for customer dollars. Obviously, Peaches and Cream are the market leaders and have the highest profile, but others like the Nauti NZ chain and Newmarket’s Gigi all vye for customers.

We don’t really consider these other businesses to be direct competition as they offer a completely different shopping experience. Also, their high prices reflect the high rent charged in the city. For the same toy, these stores often charge double the price we are asking.

We love being in the sex toy business and enjoy passing on the savings to our wonderful customers, that come from being a country based business.

If you are going to be nearby, pop in and see us at 28 Main Street, Eketahuna. Or visit our online store.

Sam x