Declining Sales Cause Condom Shop to Close
Erin Hamm is shutting her Long Beach shop for good today for the usual reason--business has slipped.
But Hamm said the decline in sales doesn’t worry her as much as what may be the reason behind it. “There are a lot of people who aren’t using condoms,” she said.
For four years, Hamm has run Condom Wrap, a safe sex boutique she opened at 16. As she rings up her customers’ final purchases this weekend, she wonders whether the drop-off means that no one has been reading the warnings in the pamphlets she displays in the store.
She launched the boutique, with the help of her mother and a friend, hoping to make protection fun, she says. Determined to curb the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies, she offered the widest possible variety of condoms. At one point, the store’s racks boasted 400 different styles, from ribbed to licorice-flavored to black history-themed to a German brand with a name she cannot pronounce.
But she estimated that sales have dropped 50% over the last two years, and said the boutique cannot stay afloat, even with an inventory that has expanded to include an array of sexual paraphernalia, including a modest selection of lace and leather underwear and adults-only toys.
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“I’m ready to move on,” said the now 20-year-old Hamm, who put off college to help run the boutique. “I feel bad though. I have so many people yelling at me, ‘Where are we going to go now?’ ”
Long Beach health officials are wondering the same thing. In a city with the second-highest AIDS rate in the state--567 cases per 100,000 people--officials said they liked to have a place they could send sexually active youths that put them at ease. A city-run workshop designed to teach youngsters about the perils of AIDS included a regular visit to the store, where Hamm reserved a side room so students could view a city health department video and look over different types of condoms.
“It’s a good location. It had a nice variety of condoms and a nice atmosphere,” said Adama Dyoniziak, the department’s AIDS education supervisor. “It’s a shame that prices and the market are forcing it to close.”
At the Long Beach Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center, which conducts HIV testing, health care providers have frequently referred people to the shop because of its relaxed atmosphere, executive director Jack Newby said.
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“We’re going to try to provide what we can here, but otherwise, people are going to be on their own,” he said.
Customers picked through Condom Wrap’s wares during the going out of business sale last week, taking advantage of markdowns on edible boxer shorts and bubble gum-flavored latex gloves.
“Without this particular shop, I guess it’s back to 7-Eleven,” said a 26-year-old man who declined to give his name as he leafed through a rack of relationship advice books.
Tonya, 25, said that many other sex shops--”the ones with bars on the doors, where they have to buzz you in”--scare off the mildly curious and the nervous, but that Condom Wrap provided a more open environment. “This was comfortable for me,” she said.
But one person not comfortable with it was Hamm’s father, who doesn’t care to talk about the mom-and-daughter operation at all, she says. Hamm herself, when asked about her occupation, often responds by saying she’s “in retail.”
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Having observed her customers for four years, she has concluded that the recently divorced are among the more cautious when it comes to sex. She says it’s the twentysomething generation, her peers, who seem more at risk, despite her efforts to educate them. Even after closing the shop, she said, she will push the safe sex message among her friends.
But the Hamms’ experience may say more about the plight of mom-and-pop condom stores than sexual habits, according to one competitor.
Adam Glickman, president of Condomania, which has stores in New York, Los Angeles and Miami, said his 5-year-old company has just completed its best year. After the first store opened in New York in 1991, 100 copycat stores cropped up nationwide, but 80% have since closed, he estimated. He said many of the shops tried to boost profits by selling a cornucopia of sex toys that turned off customers.
Though Glickman said profits at his Los Angeles store have been flat recently, he insisted that young people are practicing safe sex in greater numbers.
“If anything, I see more and more indications that condoms are becoming more accepted, and that the stigmas and taboos are being shed,” Glickman said.
One person not convinced is Heather Hamm, Erin’s mother, who also worked at the Long Beach store.
“What I’m finding is a lot of people come in and they’ve never ever worn a condom before,” she said. “I think people are taking chances.”
