New York City’s Contact Sports inhabits Babeland’s old retail location at 43 Mercer St., but that’s where its similarities with the legacy sex goods destination end. The new “sporting goods store” looks more like a private athletic club than a no-frills shop packed with inexpensive adult novelty items—and that departure is intentional.
While Babeland operates a second Manhattan location in the East Side neighborhood, the Mercer Street store briefly reopened then closed permanently during COVID.
Contact Sports’ husband and wife co-founders Justin and Chelsea Kerzner—Justin was previously president of the now-defunct Manhattan-based direct-to-consumer shopping concept Naked Retail—took over the 750-square-foot ground floor space that housed Babeland for decades, stripped it down to the studs and reconstructed it to cultivate a refined retail environment that draws on the world of vintage sports. But it’s products for pleasure that are on offer.
Shoppers can pick from a tight edit of 70 products, including toys, lubricants, condoms and ingestibles from sexual wellness brands such as Dame, Maude, Future Method, Lelo, Champ, Kiki de Montparnasse and Vella, as well as beautifully crafted lifestyle items like candles from Flamingo Estate, chef-crafted edibles from Rose LA and hemp pre-rolls from Gossamer.
“We’re changing the mindset around a traditionally guilt-ridden retail experience,” says Chelsea. “Whether you’re looking for solo play or a couple that’s curious to test out some new gear, we’ve created a space for the athlete in all of us.”
In a break from Naked Retail’s model, Contact Sports operates with a traditional wholesale model and purchases inventory upfront from its brand partners. To curate its assortment, the shop hunted for products that are high-quality, efficacious and aesthetically pleasing. Justin says, “If you look at the sex category specifically, the cheap stuff looks cheap, or you find stuff that looks awesome and feels awesome and doesn’t work so well.”
He continues, “All of these brands—Dame, Maude—have done a really good job with making sex more approachable. Kiki has elevated the experience in an amazing way. An attention to detail and knowing who the customer is I think is always key. The rest was bringing in the right lifestyle stuff that not a lot of people know about like Flamingo Estate.”
Contact Sports aims to change how shopping for sex stuff looks and feels. It intends to be a place where customers want to hang out in rather than sneak in and out of. The centerpiece of its space is a Jonathan de Pas baseball glove chair where consumers can sit and learn about the shop’s offerings and peruse its selection of vintage Playboy and Sports Illustrated magazines.
“We’re changing the mindset around a traditionally guilt-ridden retail experience.”
Contact Sports features several cheeky touchpoints. Among the branded athletic gear sold in the store is a tube sock that’s sold as a single—not intended to be used on the foot. Bookmarks that come with the vintage magazines double as rulers. Names like J. Jameson on the mock lockers along the walls reference legendary porn stars.
Roses, long a tool of celebration as well as seduction, are an integral part of the Contact Sports brand. When customers enter the store, they’re greeted by a 15-foot wall of fresh, hand-cut, long-stem red roses available for purchase. There’s a decorative tile mosaic in the shape of a rose on the floor, and the dressing room features a rose-shaped neon light.
The floral flourish came from a moment of inspiration as the team was tweaking the branding. Justin recalls, “I had my tattoo artist [Raul Bussot] randomly draw a classic version of a rose, that’s where the icon comes from.” It also adorns all of Contact Sports’ merchandise.
For launch, Contact Sports has developed a limited drop of branded apparel and accessory that encompasses sweatshirts, hoodies, towel, water bottle, a classic baseball cap and the aforementioned single sock. Merch has become an important revenue stream for consumer packaged goods brands with devoted consumer communities, and Justin plans to have Contact Sports capitalize on that dynamic, albeit with a sexy spin.
“Eventually, we can take the merch angle and develop our own white-label product through different sports,” he says. “If we ever do a tennis collab, we can do a grip tape that’s also a restraint tape. There are so many angles in every single sport.”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.