Sex shop owners not feeling the love Repeated business interruptus from costly break-ins, shoplifting kills good retail vibrations By: Gabrielle Piché Posted: 5:23 PM CDT Wednesday, May. 31, 2023

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This article was published 30/05/2023 (330 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Just inside Adam & Eve’s boarded-up St. James Street window is a wall laden with vibrators.

“When we walked in, this was all empty,” store owner Rafael Palao said, pointing to the shelves now displaying the colourful sex toys.

Although his front glass was shattered a few weeks ago in a break-in attempt, he was referring to last summer’s theft of products valued at about $10,000, including the rechargeable items on the wall, some of which sell for $200.

“We’ve been hit quite a bit,” he said.

Winnipeg shops selling adult products are frequently the victims of costly thefts and property damage, owners say.

Some, including Palao, believe their stolen merchandise is resold online, perhaps with the involvement of organized crime rings.

At the back of the store, a previously installed door is off its hinges, cut open with wood and insulation exposed during another break-in more than a month ago.

“This is done by somebody who knows what they are doing,” he said. “This is not easy to be done.”

There’s a new back door in place now; repairing and replacing damaged property and upgrading security costs thousands of dollars, he said, adding police often take their time in responding.

Officers have taken security tape recordings. But it can be difficult to identify the often-masked intruders.

There’s a sign at the front of the shop instructing customers carrying large bags to place them behind the service counter.

It doesn’t stop shoplifting, noted employee Jo Byra, who watched one visitor who called himself the devil and said he didn’t need to pay, loaded up on items and walked out.

“This is done by somebody who knows what they are doing… This is not easy to be done.”–Rafael Palao, owner

“I said, ‘Even Satan pays, sir,’” she recalled, adding she heard he was caught with stolen Adam & Eve products in a nearby mall.

Palao said he’s received notifications about break-ins while he’s sleeping and when he’s been out of the country. He submitted one insurance claim and his premiums skyrocketed, he said.

“Every time somebody tries to do something, tries to get in, it’s an expense out of our own pocket,” he said. “We are doing what we can, but it just seems like what we can do is not enough.”

The shop has been open 11 years, but crime has increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, adding there have been at least four break-ins since the beginning of the year.

One break-and-enter caught on camera resembled a personal shopping visit, he said.

“They could’ve taken so much more, which they didn’t,” he said.

Instead of grabbing expensive, rechargeable wands, the thief opted for fetish items.

“It was very strange — I’ve never seen that,” Palao said.

The Love Nest shop on Main Street experiences crime in “little waves,” said owner Diane Houston. People haven’t had success breaking in for a long time, she added, crediting her security system.

The tightened security can’t stop vandals outside the store’s walls or shoplifters during store hours; that kind of theft might happen once a week or once a month, Houston said.

“Every time somebody tries to do something, tries to get in, it’s an expense out of our own pocket.”–Rafael Palao, owner

Shoplifters target a variety of products, she said.

“I’m assuming they’re selling (stolen goods) for money,” she said, adding she’s observed couples, pretending not to know each other, stealing goods. Others are more brazen, grabbing merchandise in plain sight and leaving.

“If somebody comes in and they’re aggressive, we call the emergency line,” Houston said.

Owner Linda Zuzanski estimates the Love Nest store on Taylor Avenue loses about $500 worth of product to shoplifting each month.

“It’s nickel and diming us to death,” she said. “We’ve already got enough to deal with.”

Many businesses, including hers, have pandemic-era government loans to pay back this year. Companies with a Canada Emergency Business Account loan received a maximum $60,000 through the program that must be repaid by Dec. 31. If businesses meet the deadline, 33 per cent of their loan will be forgiven.

“We’re trying to pay back a loan, but in the meantime (it’s), ‘Oh, I’ve got to replace this today,’ (or) ‘Oh, I’ve got to reorder that tomorrow because they stole this one,’” Zuzanski said.

Recently, someone took a vibrator that was on display but not the cord used for recharging. It’s a waste, she said — the product would be dead within a few hours.

She’s spent upwards of $20,000 on security in recent years, she said. While there have been break-in attempts, none have been successful.

“People don’t realize when they open a business, it’s not just opening a business and having inventory,” she said, adding the costs associated with crime have to be accounted for.

Theft and vandalism affect many kinds of business. The Winnipeg Police Service annual report shows 4,155 recorded cases of shoplifting of $5,000 or under. The clearance rate of such cases was less than a quarter, 23.4 per cent.

Break-and-enters occurred 6,601 times in 2022, the report said. The clearance rate was 13 per cent.

Zuzanski said business plans have to include the costs associated with crime.

“It just looks embarrassing if customers pull up and your door is a piece of plywood,” she said.

“People don’t realize when they open a business, it’s not just opening a business and having inventory.”–Linda Zuzanski, Love Nest store

News reports have previously highlighted adult shop theft in Calgary, Montreal and British Columbia.

In 2015, a Calgary Police Service spokesperson told the Calgary Herald it suspected stolen goods from adult stores were being resold online or to other adult shops.

A CPS spokesperson told the Free Press it no longer tracks retail crime by type of item.

Adult shop goods are high-value items that “likely have higher resale channels,” John Graham, the Retail Council of Canada’s director of government relations for the Prairies, wrote in an email.

However, he said he wasn’t aware of the products being targeted by thieves generally, or by organized crime.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com