“Most sex shop owners are people from the 90s” — about her business, successes and failures
— What do you do in your work?
— Right now my work is divided into three parts. “Prezervativnaya” is my brainchild; I run this project myself. It has been operating since 2012. Three months ago, the sex shop “Shpilli-Willi and the jade staff” opened, which we run together with my husband Dmitry Voidakov. And motherhood — we also do this together with my husband (laughs). I probably won’t go into detail on the last one, but I’ll tell you about the first two.
In the sex shop, Dima and I do everything except direct sales. However, if we are short of hands, we gladly step behind the counter and communicate with customers. But mainly, it involves purchasing, pricing, and marketing. My husband is currently studying marketing so that we can continue to handle everything ourselves, just do it even better.
In “Prezervativnaya,” we thought about renovating: the store is already six years old, after all. It was supposed that we would extend the lease every year, so I was a bit apprehensive. But finally, I decided to go for it.
I also make short educational videos for Instagram and other social networks. Right now, we are trying to create a channel with videos where we tell people about sex toys. However, we are just getting started.
I like everything about my work; it's my brainchild. I love handling orders, purchasing — a little bit of everything. In general, yes, everything in my business is cool.
— How did the idea of opening “Prezervativnaya” come to you?
— The idea came unexpectedly. In 2010, I was organizing my festival, got tired of it, and decided to work “for someone else”. Although I always knew I would be in business. And after a year of unsuccessful work (I was doing well, it just didn't work out with the company owner), I realized that I wanted to start my own business.
At that moment, I had just been to Amsterdam, walked the streets, and saw a local "condom shop". I didn’t even go in, but I thought: cool. I returned to Moscow, thought for a long time about what kind of business to start. There were several options, but “Prezervativnaya” turned out to be the most budget-friendly. There was no calculation of the target audience or anything like that. This was a spontaneous decision that turned out to be successful and hit the mark. It became a good, steadily working project.
— When and how did you realize it was time to grow and launch a new project — the sex shop?
— The store opened three months ago, but the idea had been brewing in my mind for two years. I searched for a location for a very long time — a year and a half. Then I waited another six months for the renovations in the building to finish. In fact, they are still ongoing; we were the first tenants to move in and are currently the only ones.
The idea was born from the fact that there was nothing on the market for people like me. I realized that there was nowhere for someone from my generation to go. There was nothing modern. I worked for two years in wholesale sex toys while already having my first business — for promotion and self-development. I studied the market well and realized what was missing. There is a lack of sex shops for young people.
Most sex shop owners are people from the 90s. Many stores lack creativity. Of course, there are boutique options, but there was nothing for the next generation of my age. The primary customers are 27 years old and older. That's how the concept was born to create something not shameful and scary, fun. On this fun, the name, design, and approach emerged.
— Was it scary?
— With “Prezervativnaya” — no, not scary at all. I was just over 20 years old, young, full of optimism and confidence in my abilities.
With “Shpilli-Willi,” there was fear that it might not work out. But we communicate with colleagues from the industry, and so far, the dynamics are good. We hope it stays that way. But it is scary. Every day I look at sales and how everything is going in general.
— Tell us about the difficulties you faced or still face. How do you cope with them?
— As I mentioned, the first thing that greatly impeded opening the sex shop was the inability to find a suitable location. The place we rented is located at Belorusskaya metro station. This is not a hundred percent hit for the target audience; we really wanted to open somewhere on Pokrovka. There are already a few adult stores there, and people know about it.
Either some buildings had issues and we didn't want to take the risk, or they refused to rent to us: “A sex shop? Oh, we don’t need that, goodbye.”
And suddenly, a place was found on Belorusskaya. It's not perfect, but everything came together, and everything is fine.
The store opened on July 18, and I gave birth on the 25th. The toughest part of the opening fell on the 39th week of my pregnancy. In fact, the store's construction actively started from the 33rd week of my pregnancy, when it's not just time to go on maternity leave, but you can already give birth. And I — so pregnant and deep in pregnancy — was communicating with builders and sleeping four hours a day.
Plus, weather. In street retail, it matters a lot. When the weather turns bad, no one wants to leave home. Of course, they get used to it; you can't just spend the whole winter on the couch. But at first, it's tough.
There are difficulties with finding and training staff, especially for night shifts. It's hard to find those who love people and want to help them. Knowledge is also very important. In many sex shops, salespeople have little knowledge. We strive to ensure our employees understand everything, can provide consultation, and are pleasant to communicate with — that’s important too. Even if you are incredibly knowledgeable about sex, if it’s uncomfortable to talk to you — that’s a problem.
And my main trouble is delegating and distributing responsibilities. Dima previously worked in banks and insurance companies; he knows how to manage people and organize work processes. He is perplexed by my inability to delegate authority, but we are working on this.
— Let's focus on your employees. How do you select people? Who works with you, and how can someone join your team?
— The employees at “Prezervativnaya” are wonderful; we invited some of them to work in the sex shop. Many of the guys who are still with us joined five years ago. They are amazing, and I adore them. We find some through internet ads, and we've had a few successful cases, but the best candidates came from acquaintances and friends.
In our business, staff are one of the most important things. We don’t want to push anything on anyone. A person should leave happy.
A successful candidate should vibe with our way of life, have a touch of messiness, love for people, and enjoy communication. It’s a complex cocktail that’s hard to describe. Interests and worldview should be similar. A strong desire to help people improve their lives and a willingness to do so is essential. You need to understand the product well. Understand the problem the client came with and know what to offer to solve it.
Sales skills are also very important, but we don’t force people to buy anything. Often, a person may not yet know what might make them happy. The salesperson should help with this. And a tolerance for peculiar customers who sometimes come into the store is also necessary.
— Do you consider your projects successful? Is there a main achievement you're proud of?
— I consider “Prezervativnaya” successful and am proud of everything I do. But I understand this isn’t enough. The main achievement is still ahead.
— What do you think is the key to success? A cool idea, employees, quality products?
I think the key to success is all of this. Without a cool idea, people will not love you. If they come for the idea but see poor employees — that’s a failure. When both the concept and the workers are great, but the products are of poor quality or break — that’s also a failure.
— Surely, there have been mistakes — tell us about them.
— The biggest mistake was the St. Petersburg “Prezervativnaya.” It opened about six months after the opening in Moscow.
I thought, “Everything seems to be going well; I need to cover St. Petersburg urgently before someone else does.” That was a very emotional and unthought-out decision.
I didn’t know the city; I had only been there a couple of times. I had no idea where the flow of people is or where my target audience walks, and where it doesn't. As a result, I rented a place in a completely unsuitable location. In general, everything comes down to location. The store operated for about five months, and then we ceremoniously moved out. I didn’t have the skills to manage a business from a distance, and at some point, I missed something myself. But even if I hadn’t missed anything, there were no chances in that location. This is my biggest mistake in business.
— What are your business plans?
— Right now, we are focusing on “Shpilli-Willi,” waiting for everything to stabilize. We are moving slowly; then we can think about expansion. I would like to create not just one cool sex shop but a small network with the same concept in different districts of the city. To make it comfortable and good for people. And, most importantly, to make them happy.
I was interested in the topic of the “Prezervativnaya” franchise, but before, I had neither the resources nor the desire because this is my project, and I didn’t want to give it away to anyone. Now, I think it might be possible to develop a franchise.
In fact, this is not the end. I'm not saying my life will be connected with sex shops. I am this kind of person: I always want to come up with and think through something new and cool. Maybe not even in the field of sex toys. The main thing is to do.
— What will be relevant and in demand in your field in the coming years?
— VR, but it comes to us very slowly and currently interests very few people. In other countries, such as in the USA, where porn is legal, VR technologies are developing much faster.
“By education, I am a philosopher and translator from Arabic” — about knowledge, workspace, and free time
— Where did you learn what you know?
— I learned everything from my parents. They are businessmen, and I saw how all this works from childhood. By education, I am a philosopher and translator from Arabic, but that was for brain development. My knowledge comes from experience, plus I studied marketing at “Netology” courses and other training sessions. But the key is still experience.
— Do you think academic education is necessary at all?
— Academic education should exist because it develops and enhances the brain. But it’s not essential if you are not a stupid person and regularly engage in self-education. Then the degree doesn’t matter. It’s important to love learning. And it doesn’t matter if it’s academic education or just courses.
— What does your workspace look like?
— The workspace is a living room with a large green sofa, a stationary computer (which only runs “1C”), a work laptop, and a small child nearby who requires attention. All deliveries come to the living room; Dima and I process everything there, so delivery days are hectic.
Since the sex shop is still in the process of establishing itself, we don't want to look for a person to handle all this routine. We want to keep our finger on the pulse, and in about a year, we can breathe a sigh of relief.
— How do you organize your time?
— I used to jot everything down in a notebook; I didn’t like smartphones and carried a flip phone. Now we use Trello. The business is joint, everything is shared; we create to-do lists there.
I write everything down, always, even the tiniest details. It’s important to me.
I mark what has been done, move items to another date that were not accomplished. There are cards for each day, scheduled for two weeks. I constantly check and review them.
— Are you able to keep up with everything?
— Of course not. The baby is only three months old; it’s still hard.
— What do you do in your free time from work?
— We love attending festivals, we might go listen to a DJ set, check out art gatherings, we have been to Burning Man for two consecutive years and plan to go again. I love making costumes for parties by hand.
We also ski once a year, travel by car on complex and long routes, and ride motorcycles with Dima. But before, I had more time for entertainment; now there is hardly any left.
Loverssex'stvo by Yesenia Shamonina
- Fantasy works by Yuri Nikitin. I loved them madly as a child. They inspired me to do something useful and noticeable, not just to be born, live life, and die. As I said, we created a sex shop to make people happy. That is very important.
- The book “Sexuars” by Vyacheslav Kostiuchenko. The author is the owner of a very old BDSM-oriented sex shop “Three Rooms.” This publication is hard to find. It covers hard BDSM, but in general, it’s about everything. And for shop salespeople — it’s like a textbook, and for couples. We distribute similar books in our store; I wrote them myself. It’s an educational guide to sex toys. And Kostiuchenko has inspired me.
- The movie “Hidden Figures.” About African American women who worked at NASA and helped the computer industry. It's an inspiring film.
- Interviews with businessmen in the amoCRM blog. I watched them with great pleasure. Unfortunately, now there is very little time left for this.
