Sexual Sunday: Ann Summers O'Connell St.

Ann Summers is something of an institution and I hesitated to write about it this week. This isn't some small stand alone business like the other sex shops in Dublin. This has marketing campaigns, PR women and hundreds of employees, so why try to rate and talk about such a huge company. And to answer my own question, I'm not too sure. But why leave out a sex shop and why not talk about my somewhat bias personal dislike to the brand? Its Sexual Sunday after all -If your new, read my first post here and maybe last weeks, here.

Appearance of the outer shop: 3 1/2 stars - Its nothing amazing, but not uninviting either.

Appearance of the inner shop: 4 1/2 stars - space, light and the toys are at the back.

Friendliness and helpfulness of staff: 3 stars - knowledgeable but overbearing. 

Price range of toys: 4 stars - Something for everyone (even if the toy quality is questionable).

Selection of products/Specialists: 2 stars - Nothing you can't buy anywhere else.

Like with any other press/blogger, Ann Summers staff will never give an interview and always suggest you talk to their pr - who never get back to you. So all the thoughts today are my own. Ann Summers is one of the most well known sex shops in Dublin purely as its a big brand that does those horrible parties (pet peeve) and is parked right on O'Connell street. Its not incredibly offensive in its outer presentation as there are never any toys on display, only posters of women wearing lingerie or manikins draped in the latest offerings. When you walk inside your met with a large, well lit and well laid out space to shop. All the knicker and bra sets dominate the front of the shop, along with the security guard. Towards the back there is what can only be described as a circle stand that you walk into and can see the selection of toys. I must admit, I really like this part, you can't be seen from the front of the shop and everything they have to offer is more or less right in front of you in a smaller space. No trekking from one side of the shop to the other with your arm full of toys. 

However the moment you walk to the back to browse their selection, you are pounced on by staff asking if you need anything, want something explained or to hear the offers of buying three toys and getting a free lube for your trouble. I can't abide this type of sales and a lot of shops do it, but when selling toys I find this off putting and it almost makes me want to throw my hands in the air screaming ''I wasn't looking at sex toys, I'm sorry!''. If it makes me want to do that after I regularly march into sex toy shops, what would it make a first time or nervous buyer do? Not cool Ann Summers, not cool. 

Image source: www.irishmirror.ie

The selection of toys is alright if your looking simply for a dildo or bullet-like vibrator. With Rabbit being one of their only well known brand names along with the - moment for face palm - 50 Shades of Grey, the rest were all Ann Summers own brand. I've not had a lot of experience with their own brand, so to be fair I couldn't pass comment without properly having tried some out first. (Maybe I'll get to this in a separate Sexual Sunday post another time.) But if your looking for joke toys or something plain, then there is a lovely selection of lingerie to choose from, fluffy handcuffs and a long list of different flavoured lube, some anal toys, soft bondage kits and a few cock rings. They don't do any specialist toys, preferring to cater to the masses of what will sell. 

One thing that I noticed and had me scratching my head over was the selection of  'little pills' that are meant to increase stamina and so on. They have them in the O'Connell street shop and also have them listed on their UK but not Irish sites. You can see them over here. I'm wondering why they can sell them or what the legal side of it is, considering last week the staff in Secret Paradise was telling me that guards come in occasionally to check there not being sold. Clearly I'm not doing my homework and need to start looking into these things (Promise I'll update this section when/if I find out the answers.)

Overall I can see why theres such a pull to this shop. Its female friendly and has the excuse that you were only going in to buy some knickers, perfectly acceptable. Theres also the plus that its an all female staff - well there was the times I've gone in anyway. A lot of sex shops have an all male staff as women don't tend to work there for one reason or another. For example I knew a girl who quit after a month because she would get asked inappropriate questions or be hassled by teens passing by and coming in to cause a fuss. Ann Summers is a safe place to shop and even their online shops have a huge selection of things that don't look intimidating unlike other shops. It bothers me slightly that some would rather shop in here because it doesn't have the kink element of a regular sex shop, so your going to be spared the 'shock, horror' products. But then again, each to their own. Personally one of my very first sex toys was bought from here, so I can't judge at all!

Sexual Sunday: Secret Paradise Temple Bar

If your not up to date on my weekly series, check out my first post over here. Once inside the shop, I asked the guy behind the counter if he would mind answering a few questions for me and although he said that the owner of the shop talking to me was very doubtful, he was extremely obliging and helpful. I couldn't have asked for nicer. This is a mixture of my own impression along with nuggets of wisdom from the staff member. If you fancy a more in depth interview question/answer kind of post, feel free to comment, tweet me or email to bigblondegirl1@gmail.com.

Appearance of the outer shop: 2 stars - being generous.

Appearance of the inner shop: 4 stars - offer coffee and a comfy chair, I may stretch to a 5.

Friendliness and helpfulness of staff: 5 stars - is it possible to give it a 6?

Price range of toys: 3 1/2 stars - I'm surprisingly happy with this one.

Selection of products/Specialists: 3 stars - nothing specialist, but there is a video booth.

Approaching this shop, I was armed with hand sanatizer and balls of steel. Its not exactly in the category of those seedy blue shop windows with the flashing 'adult store' that scatters some of Dublin, but from the outside it didn't look far off. With the words 'Luxury Adult Store'  boasting to be 'Dublins finest adult store'  plastered overhead, I wasn't sold one bit. The window normally offers a scantly clad manikin, although this particular day she was nowhere to be seen. With some poor lighting, lots of wires visibly hanging, dusty 50 Shades Of Grey offerings and some lingerie posters, the shop front didn't inspire much in me.

Image Source: Yelp - Old images

From the outside you can't see into the shop as there is a curtain and the door is reflective, which gives a nice bit of privacy to anyone who might be shopping. There is also a buzzer to press if you want to gain access to the shop, all standard things to any sex shop worth its salt. As I waited for someone to open the door, I was surrounded by people waiting at the bus stop directly outside the shop entrance - although something to note for nervous shoppers, a few odd glances didn't put me off.  Once inside I was welcomed by a large room with bright overhead lights, shiny wooden floors and lots of space to browse the rows of products. You could have knocked me over with a feather, I was so surprised. The saying looks can be deceiving came to mind.

Making a quick note of what was stocked, the prices and quality of brands, I can safely say this is one decent shop. Tanga, We Vibe and Doc Johnson are just some of the big brands to grace the shelves which impressed me. They are, for the most part 'standard' prices, theres no competitive pricing here, but no extortion rates either. Apart from name brands they also stock some fetish, clothing, shoes, magazines and a large selection of porn dvds. In Ireland its illegal to sell porn dvds, but 99% of sex shops still stock them and for the most part, the guards turn a blind eye to it being more interested in targeting the sale of potential drugs and erection pills. - This shop does however sell skins and grinders for weed, which is common for sex shops and not illegal. I'm very anti drugs though, so this is a negative thing for me.

Image Source: Yelp - Old images

Not being a specialist shop for toys or fetish, but the creme dela creme was what I found near the back, a 'video booth'. Theres not a lot of these in Dublin, so it is definitely worth a mention. I asked the lovely staff member to talk me through what it was all about, as I've only seen free porn from the internet and wasn't aware there was a market for such things. He told me that it was mostly gay men who used it and were regular customers. You pick a dvd from the shop floor and then bring it into the booth. They are not unlike those little photo booths that you get your passport photos taken in. Sit down, close the door, put in the dvd and pay a small fee before it starts playing. Personally I was itching for the hand sanatizer again, so I didn't dwell too long on the topic. 

Apart from the god-awful shop front, the other thing that really bothers me is the shops online presence. They have both Twitter and Facebook although inactive, I can somewhat forgive it. What bugs the hell out of me is the half arsed job of a website. Poor quality stock, half finished web pages, flashing side bar advertisements and poor layouts, this isn't worth your time looking at. Unfortunately for those of you who are hoping to find something decent shopping online, this site isn't the one for you. If you fancy scoffing with me, here is the site.

Image Source: Yelp - Old images

I was told that any of the 3 male staff are happy to answer questions, get in any items for people they might not already stock and discreetly ship them to you at a price throughout Ireland only. If you do buy something in the shop, there is the option of a black plastic bag or leopard print, both impossible to see into. There are plans in the pipe line to expand this business into a second shop in Dublin, with a focus on the video booths, which I'm excited to hear about. Any way of offering 'Catholic Ireland' the chance to let its hair (and trousers) down for a bit of harmless fun is always something I can support.