Reality on Bravo

On last week’s episode of Meet the Parker, the Parker played host to some great guests, including owner and sales managers from the famous sex toy boutique The Pleasure Chest. Sex toys? In a hotel room? YES, PLEASE! The Pleasure Chest was really the first company to make sexuality “ok” for the mainstream world, especially for the homosexual community. And guess what? I’ve scored an interview with the owner of The Pleasure Chest, so you can learn more about this amazing company and how to get their products!

RoB: Thanks for the interview, Brian! Tell us a bit about the Pleasure Chest and how it got started.

Brain Robinson: The Pleasure Chest was started as a waterbed store by my uncle, Duane Colglazier in the West Village in Manhattan in 1971. He and his business partner had a small wall in the back of personal lube, condoms, and a few sex toys. Soon after opening they had to reorder the toys and realized the waterbeds had to move out to make more room. Since the store didn’t start out as a sex toy store they also changed the business philosophy to not be like other sex toy retailers of the day and be a brightly lit modern boutique and proudly educate mainstream shoppers on the wonderful enhancement toys bring into a relationship and the fulfillment of one’s own sex life. The idea caught on and quickly soon the founders were expanding into other areas in the city as well as Los Angeles , Washington DC and Chicago.

And how did you get started with the company?

After their deaths in the late eighties, I decided in 1996 after many years of the stores operating on primarily their own, to pick up the ball they had started and continue their mission.

Where can people visit your boutiques?

We currently have stores in the West Village in New York , in the Lakeview are of Chicago , and in West Hollywood in Los Angeles .

On Welcome to the Parker, you mentioned that your products were starting to be placed in some hotels. That’s a place I want to stay! Where can we find you?

We are excited to be in The Bryant Park Hotel in New York with the kits that were featured on Bravo. We also started an exclusive room service menu of sex toys that have been hand selected by us for the perfect fit with the hotel, Jay Leno talked about it in his opening monologue and the NY Post did a write up about it. Some of the toys featured are 24 karat gold.

Are you in the Parker minibars yet?

The Parker decided to start with the kits in the 14 suites that they have although it hasn’t been actualized. Stay tuned and it should be finalized shortly!

Which of your products are most popular?

The Pleasure Chest in New York was featured in the show Sex and the City in the famous Rabbit Pearl vibrator episode. This vibrator (and its cordless cousin the Rabbit Habit) are by far the best selling toys. Aneros is a very popular product for men, and the LayaSpot and the Lelo are extremely popular external vibrators. The simple yet beautiful Little Chromas have really become noticed in the last few months for their timeless motors.

Which products are you offering in hotels?

Primarily what is featured in the hotel rooms is The Pleasure Chest’s Intimix kit which was also shown on Welcome to the Parker. This enticing kit includes 4 yards of silk ties, a blindfold, a personal vibrator and melting massage bar along with lube and condoms. The Bryant Park Hotel’s Objects of Pleasure menu has several Pyrex glass toys, stainless steel wands, semi-precious metal vibrators and some personal massagers. The video the hotel is showing their guests you can view online at www.dehelmedia.com/PC.mov (takes a couple of minutes to download).

Overall, how was your experience at the Parker? On the show, the staff seemed fairly receptive to your products!

We had a great time at the Parker, the staff was really happy to have us there. Much of what we shot didn’t make it into the show but the boardroom meeting was very positive and so well received. One of the women on the crew said that they hadn’t seen the General Manager Thomas and the Hotel Manager Samir light up as much as the did during our meeting. Most of them had been in the store in Los Angeles and they were trying to figure out a time to take a field trip to the store to make final decisions on what they wanted for the Parker Hotel

What’s next for the Pleasure Chest? Will you be offering new products or opening new stores?

Our new product line should be out just before Christmas - beautifully packaged very main stream gift items and personal items as well as larger kits for Christmas. We are looking at a couple of new markets to introduce us to so stay tuned…hopefully there will be a Pleasure Chest near you!

Thanks for the interview, Brian! For more information and to order your own fun sex toys and bedroom products, check out The Pleasure Chest online!

The Pleasure Chest, sex toys, sex products, sex, Welcome to the Parker