SEX: Do we have your attention? Touch of Pleasure has ours

Sex sells. It must, based on the initial success of another South Lake Tahoe shop that specializes in intimate apparel and performance-enhancing goods.

Brianna Birdwell opened Touch of Pleasure in October and since then has found the pleasure in marketing sex education inside and outside the shop where the bathing suit retailer Everything Under the Sun was located on Ski Run Boulevard. She painted and installed lights in the airy, 2,222-square-foot shop.

"I just thought we needed a friendlier environment to get (sex) out in the open and more comfortable to people," said Birdwell, a 22-year-old business major who added she's very excited about Valentine's Day. "I don't want to just sell (sex toys) and get them out the door."

The enterprising young woman reads up on sexual social behavior as well as merchandise she's considered carrying.

Beyond the wide variety of merchandise that lines the walls, floors and shelves, Birdwell devised a way for interested parties to show off her product line in the comfort of someone's home. One may refer to it as Tupperware meets a new sexual age.

South Lake Tahoe resident Samantha Wade recently hosted an all-girls party of 22 women and noted about $1,700 worth of merchandise was sold there. But for Wade, the experience was mildly about the money and image-building for the store. Birdwell said there are also co-ed parties.

"Sex is a natural thing. It was fun and good for people who don't want to step into (a shop)," she said.

A customer's comfort level is the main focus of Touch of Pleasure.

Birdwell said she's talked to both men and women who have tried to navigate the confusing world of sexual satisfaction in a day and age where medical conditions exist and inhibit one's drive, skill or knowledge.

Many men have scouted the shop, finding merchandise ranging from magazines, books, and cupcake pans to games, bachelor party kits and lingerie. There's even a sofa for sale for $474. Items start at 95 cents. And a specialty wall designed just for Valentine's Day has been established.

Birdwell said it was a little shocking at first to sell her Gardnerville parents on the idea of her enterprise, but they came around and even helped with the $3,000 remodel. Her mother Lydia was laughing when she was stocking some of the items.

Touch of Pleasure, which can be reached at (530) 542-1816, is located at 1002 Ski Run Blvd. in the Kentucky Fried Chicken-anchored center next to Highway 50.