BDSM RTV MEDIA NEWS!!!!


24 august 2009


Confessions of fetish store worker


Source: uweekly.com U Weekly -


Everybody just needs to love somebody. Although sex shops can garner snickers from a few people, one has to admit that gazing at the rows-and-rows of bondage and S & M gear that, well, it's all in harmless fun. Perhaps it is even a lot of fun? Decide for yourself after you read this week's confession, in which UWeekly talks to The Chamber's Nick Couch, who has worked at this type of job for about a year.


UWeekly: How would you describe the goods and services that your store provides?
Nick Couch: We're basically an adult novelty store. We sell a lot of clothing and fetish and club wear and fashion. The main draw of the store is S&M (Sadism and Masochism) and BDSM (Bondage, Discipline, Dominance and Submission, Sadism and Masochism) equipment. We sell a lot of movies, we are just an adult shop based on the BDSM aspect of the adult world.

UW: How many of your clientele are returning customers?
NC: There are a lot of repeat customers. I wouldn't necessarily say regulars, but we do have quite a few regular customers that come in on a daily or weekly basis just to see if we have anything new.

UW: Do you see a lot of window shoppers or browsers in here?
NC: Yeah. Since we are right on High Street, we get a lot of foot traffic. A lot of people come in here to look. We try to keep our window display interesting so it catches people's eye.

UW: Does anyone come in here not knowing at first what kind of store this is?
NC: The smoke shop was moved to the other side of us, so we get a lot of people in here who have never heard of us, been in here, or have never even seen this type of stuff associated with this lifestyle. It's usually pretty positive though. People are usually pretty excited to find it.

UW: What would you say about the stigma attached to your job and store? Why do you think that is?
NC: Honestly, it's mostly kids from campus. I get a lot of kids from campus in here that I don't see any other time, especially during Halloween, when we sell costumes. They come in here and they just act real rude. If you are bothering my customers, and you're real customers it can get a little annoying. But for the most part, people come in here more interested than anything.

UW: What would you recommend for someone who has never had much experience with this sort of thing?
NC: With the BDSM aspect of this store, you would have to come in knowing what part of the lifestyle you're interested in, or have some sort of base of what you are interested in. Everyone that works here is knowledgeable, personable, helpful, and if you come in with this basic knowledge of what you want we can find a piece specifically for you.

UW: What is the best aspect about your job?
NC: Definitely the people. The people I work with are all very cool, and the customers that come in definitely keep this place real interesting.

UW: What is something about your job that could be changed?
NC: No, not really. I like the atmosphere, I like everybody I work with. The customers are interesting, friendly, you will have the occasional couple of people that don't really want to talk to anybody, but that is common in retail stores.
Since our store is more specialized, it is harder to just approach people, but usually people have a set goal of what they are looking for.

UW: When is your busy season?
NC: Halloween is our Christmas. We double or staff, and most of them work 10-20 hours overtime a week. Valentines day is also a really busy time.

UW: Is there anything you would like to add about your job?
NC: It's fun, even if you are not in this lifestyle, (the store) is definitely something you should check out.