B & D Emporium has long been the place to go for leather, kink and fetish-wear in both Calgary and Edmonton. In August of 2000, Stephen Hosie moved from Vancouver to help then-Calgary owners Barbie and Christine open up a store in Edmonton. After a few changes (including the addition of the suffix of “Emporium” on their name) Hosie was offered the chance to purchase the store in 2003 and since then has been the sole proprietor while maintaining the name.
“We kept the name because there is too much name recognition in the kink community,” Hosie told GayCalgary during a visit to his store. “We are talking about changing it now because we are slowly changing our focus on who our customer base is. The kink will always be there but we are going to more of an overall alternative lifestyle store. We are bringing in more Pride stuff, underwear, books and mags devoted to gay and lesbian stuff. I grew up with Little Sisters bookstore in Vancouver so that is the image I have in my head for the store while still keeping the leather and kink component.”
The store offers custom made leather work and clothing, as well as offering the popular gay Canadian Priape wear. Other clothing lines that they have started carrying are Lip Service, a punk rock/Goth line out of L.A., and Allure Leather, which is Canada’s only manufacturer of fetish clothing. While there are new draws to the store, the fetish and kink products are still accessible there.
“We see more gay traffic than we did at our old location,” Hosie said. Since the time he became owner, the store had also changed location. It is currently next door to the gay clubs Buddy’s & Woodys, and underneath Steamworks bathhouse. “We have always had a bit of a scary image problem with people, as far as the kink image, because we played that up for the first five years. So I think a lot of ’mainstream‘ people drew away from that. That is part of the reason why we are changing the merchandise we are selling. We have a back room for the kinky stuff to keep it out of public view so that someone who is just coming down here to buy a pair of pantyhose doesn’t feel like they are walking into someone’s basement Dungeon. We are battling that image now, people are afraid to come in here. I’ve always thought it was kind of strange but I’ve been living this for a long time.” In today’s market it is important for the store to evolve. “A lot of the kink market has gone online because it is so convenient and the whole kink lifestyle is still pretty in the closet. People like the anonymity of ordering online so they do. Our business in that has slowly dropped off as has Christine’s in Calgary. There is nothing you can do to counter that. We talked about going online with a store but I am old fashioned and want the face-to-face, its much more fun for me. I could do this at home but I would rather come out here.”
It’s been a gradual process towards the store’s change, but a necessary one. Even within our own community people aren’t as open as they really should be.
”It’s a big surprise as I have been out as a gay person for thirty years. I have always considered myself to be pretty open-minded and thought most gay people around me would be pretty open-minded. Thirty years ago they were. Now I find there are just as many narrow minds in the gay community as in the world at large, and they have serious issues with kink just like other people do. It came as a surprise. I’ve had 25-year-old gay men come in here and giggling like schoolgirls, because it’s embarrassing and titillating and taboo. It’s really strange. Even in the summer when the windows are open you can hear them talking outside about coming in. We had a big street sign that we put out there with the words “fetish clothing” on it, now we don’t even say fetish anymore.”
An experience last year made the decision to adjust focus an easy one.
”The clincher was last Halloween the Edmonton Sun did a two page color spread on the store. The caliber of the customers that came in after that for the next week [were the reason why we decided that] we needed to bring down the fetish aspect. We call them the ’Wal-mart shoppers‘ - they come here to giggle. The young woman that worked here was in the paper and she looked really hot. She was harassed constantly by dirty old men for months after that. So we decided to tone the sexuality down. We’ve gotten rid of all the Dungeon furniture because it was the first thing people focused on when they came here and it makes people uncomfortable. It has been a difficult balancing act because I don’t want to lose the customer base we built for six years, but in order to stay in business we need to turn over product quickly.”
B&D Emporium now offers something for everyone. They still provide a variety of services and products to their loyal kink customer base, as well as offering a variety of options to those who are kink-curious or vanilla. So if you were ever deterred by the mental image of whips and chains, it is no longer something that should prevent you from checking out what Edmonton’s B&D Emporium can offer.
”We are pretty evenly split between men and women. Demographically we are just a cross-section of society. Our gay clientele is 15 – 20% the rest is husbands and wives and a real mish-mash. We get a lot of first time people who are just starting out into the kink lifestyle; they are actually kind of fun. You don’t want to scare people who are truly interested because it can be pretty intimidating. When people ask about toys for S&M I don’t make recommendations because everyone is different and has their own preferences and choices.”
B & D Emporium Edmonton
101-11745 Jasper Ave.
Edmonton, AB
(780) 428-5847
www.bdemporiumedmonton.com
