After 12 years, Searah Deysach still tags her job—as owner of Early to Bed—as a dream come true.
And things are about to get even better for the business—where vibrators are the bread and butter, including the Magic Wand, Silver Bullet, and others.
Early to Bed is moving into Andersonville, opening at 5044 N. Clark St., two blocks south of Foster Ave. The grand reopening is July 13.
"The space is slightly smaller than our current [location at 5232 N. Sheridan Rd.], but I've wanted to move to Clark Street for years and things just kind of fell into place. It helped that my mom really encouraged me to move; she has been one of my top cheerleaders [since] day one," Deysach said. "The new space is sunny, bright and has a great layout for our shop, and I'm ready for a fresh start in a new location. Andersonville is where I spend my free time and my money, so I'm thrilled to now be part of that community.
"We've been at our current location for almost 12 years, and while the building management and neighborhood have been great to us, I think it is time we make ourselves way more visible and available to the public. I'm also really excited that I get to make changes in the store layout and design; it's just time for a fresh, new look."
Deysach, who identifies as queer and is partnered with Dawne, has a son, Asa, 3. She lives in Rogers Park.
"Business is great," she said. "I started Early to Bed in 2001 when there was nothing like it in Chicago and I knew there were folks ready and waiting for a shop like this. I have built a lot of solid community relationships and that has really helped to keep us afloat during the recession. Of course I'm hoping the move helps bring in some new customers, but we are really lucky to have a big, loyal fan base of customers who appreciate what we do.
"Even after all these years I still cannot believe I get to run this little feminist sex shop as my job. I get a thrill when a new toy comes in and, in many ways, feel like the 28 year-old who just wanted to have a nice sex shop where she could buy awesome toys."
When it opened, the customer base at Early to Bed was woman- and queer-heavy, as that was the community she set out to serve. "But over the years our base has grown to where we are reaching people all across the age, gender and orientation spectrums," Deysach said. "Certainly folks in their 20s and 30s are a big part of our [customer] base, but I'm thrilled that we have more and more customers of all ages who shop here. We even have a dedicated section on our website for 'Seasoned Lovers,' as we are seeing older folks keeping it hot longer and longer."
Deysach receives online orders from around the world, she said.
The most requested item is, "pills to make your [penis] bigger, which we don't sell and don't exist in real life," she said, laughing.
"To me, the biggest surprise has been how incredibly open and honest people will be with us once we make them feel safe and secure. I knew I'd be talking to people about [penises] and [vaginas], but I did not anticipate how many discussions we'd have with folks about every aspect of their sensual, romantic and personal lives. So many people have questions that they have no idea who to ask, and we serve as a resource center much of the time. We also have been incredibly lucky to have had so many clients teach us about everything from gender expression to pelvic floor pain to the chemistry of the body."
So how is Early to Bed different from traditional adult shops?
"First, Early to Bed is a warm, friendly place that is designed to immediately make people feel welcome and comfortable. I do not see that as the 'traditional' model at all," she said. "We focus on high-quality products and curate our collection very carefully, so we are not just selling everything that comes on the market. We don't sell things we think are dangerous or misleading, [such as] penis-enlarging pills or butt-numbing cream, and we try really hard to make sure our clients are well informed about what they are buying. Our sales staff is trained to help people find the right item for them, not just up-sell them to something more expensive or what we want to move."
In addition to traditional sales, Early to Bed offers a variety of workshops since "I always envisioned Early to Bed as a place of community and education as well as commerce," she said.
There have been workshops ranging from erotic letter writing to making porn, and everything in between. Plus, Early to Bed has hosted in-store educators, including Annie Sprinkle, Tristan Taormino, Betty Dodson, Madison Young, Shanna Katz, Sinclair Sexsmith, Ducky Doolittle, Midori, Heather Corrinna and others.
"I see these workshops as a really import resource for folks to learn more about sex and explore their sexuality fuller and we are always looking for ways to improve and expand our educational offerings," Deysach said.
Plus, in 2002 Early to Bed launched in home-parties as a response to customer requests. Similar to Tupperware parties, Deysach and her crew bring their bag of tricks to people's homes for an up-close look at toys, and more.
"[The parties] give people who may be too shy to come to the actual shop a chance to see what sex toys are all about, as well as ask questions and get advice," Deysach said. "Often they are bachelorette parties, but we have been invited to do [such parties] in all kinds of places for all kinds of reasons, [including] lesbian books clubs, family picnics, birthday parties and just ladies-night-out kinds of events.
"We also do private workshops that are more single-issue oriented. Our Men Below the Belt class is the most popular, but BDSM 101 has had quite a surge in the past year."
Deysach said she has long catered the store to lesbians and the transgender community, particularly because gay men have many options in the field.
"I always have tried to have items that are relevant to lesbian/queer women," she said. "We stock a lot of trans-masculine supplies that are not really sex toys, but rather items for gender expression. I even started a separate website (ftmessentials.com ) a couple years ago to create an online space where folks could shop for gender expression items without having to shop at a sex-oriented site. That said, we work very hard to carry items in the shop that are relevant to all sexual identities. I'm not super into games, books or other things that are strictly hetero-focused, although it is impossible to avoid things like that all together. Of course so much of what we sell can be used by people of all genders and/or orientations.
"I'm incredibly grateful for the support we get from all kinds of people, but the LGBT community has been really great to Early to Bed and me personally since we opened. I also try to give back to the LGBT community as much as I can. We offer outreach to social service organizations and we have given a lot of talks on sex toys, healthy sexuality, safer sex and pretty much anything people ask us to."
Early to Bed was named Chicago's Best Sex shop by the Chicago Reader in 2008, 2011, and 2012, among other honors.
"I am always humbled by winning awards, especially ones that are voted on by the public," Deysach said. "I do work hard to make this the friendliest sex shop with the smartest staff, so when we are recognized for being awesome, it makes me very happy. That said, my biggest thrills still come from customers who tell me how we have changed their lives. I feel like helping people have better sex is still such an incredible joy. [Receiving] an email saying, 'You helped me have my first orgasm' is pretty much better than any award I could get."
For more information about Early to Bed, go to: www.early2bed.com .
