In 1981, Jennifer Downey opened a small shop catering specifically to women looking for those certain intimate items that could add a little spice to a marriage or relationship. The idea was to provide a place where women could find sexy lotions, potions, games, toys and lingerie, without making a harrowing visit to a less appetizing adult shop.
Imagine beginning a business and facing the normal financial, organizational, marketing and sales problems, that every new venture faces, but on top of the usual business issues, there is a prejudice from banks, landlords, and a small percentage of the public against products your company handles.
Jennifer had to overcome all of these obstacles, plus more, to continue to grow and provide service and products to her clientele.
Customer Satisfaction: TLC
One of the main business tenets that Jennifer drills into her employees is TLC. No, not tender loving care, but Think Like a Customer. She wants her store employees to put themselves in the customer’s shoes and experience what the customer may want to see or touch and anticipate any questions they may ask. She wants her employees to be ready to handle any reluctance, or question that can be thrown their way.
She knows that,
“Individual sexual preferences are such a personal thing, we really looked at that and asked ourselves, how are we going to make them feel comfortable in the store? Comfortable enough to ask questions without saying, I’m buying this for a friend.”
It’s important the customer is satisfied with their purchase when they leave the store, because most of the items are not returnable. The only way to ensure complete satisfaction is to ask the right questions. She wants her store employees to garner as much information as possible to understand, why the customer is there and what they are looking for, before the purchase is made.
Jennifer didn’t foresee her career being the successful owner of a collection of lingerie and sexual products stores. She was working in the financial industry trading over the counter stocks, when her boyfriend at the time, who later became her partner and husband (now her ex-husband), happened to see a National Enquirer headline in a grocery store check-out line, “Home Sex Toy Parties Heat Up in California.”
Being a healthy red-blooded American man, the headline made a lasting impression. He recruited a couple of friends and began a small enterprise putting on home parties for sexual toys and products.
Some months later, after that first encounter with the National Enquirer article, Jennifer began dating her soon to be husband. When she visited his house, she realized he was running the business out of his home and was in dire need of organizational help.
With her background in finance and business, she soon had the business organized and operating smoothly. After a year it became apparent there was a real market for these products and an actual store was needed to meet the demand.
The First Store
As they say opening any type of retail store is all about three things, location, location, location. Jennifer and her partner signed a one-year lease on a store-front next to a Chuck E. Cheese’s franchise that catered to children’s parties. Parents would drop their kids off for a party and shop in her store while they waited on their children. It was a win-win for both the kids and the parents.
Retail operations with adult sexual products are strictly regulated by zoning regulations, which meant that the store could sell women’s clothing items, but any sexual toys had to be kept in drawers and could only be shown if the customer asked for them.
The window displays featured stockings and a garter belt on a mannequin. When a few people complained to the landlord that the store was exposing children to women’s underwear, he refused to extend the lease after the first year, so the original store closed and moved to North Olmsted.
Jennifer told us; “If I can just get people to walk in the front door, they will have a great shopping experience and we will have a customer for a long time. If they’re not a regular customer and have never been in our store, the image and idea of what’s inside is scary. Our challenge has always been to change the perception of the products we sell.”
At the time the move was an inconvenience, but in the long run, the move to North Olmstead turned out to be the perfect solution. That store has now been open since 1984. Her small one-location intimate shop has now grown to seven locations, plus a strong internet presence via her website: https://www.ambiance.com/
Landlords and public outcry weren’t the only issues Jennifer faced along the way, even her long-time bank severed their relationship.
“We were with the same bank since the beginning in 1981. In 2006 they informed us that they could no longer process our credit card sales. Even today, when I talk to a bank about business financing, some have refused to work with us, because of our sexual product line.”
Employee Training Makes the Difference
To make the store experience a positive one, Jennifer requires every employee complete a 30-day training program. Each employee learns about the complete product line, but more importantly learns to explain them to a potential client in a non-threatening manner.
“We train our employees, both men and women, to ask questions and provide ideas to match the individual customer’s fantasy, or expectation. The training program is very important to our overall success and customer satisfaction. That is the basis of the TLC philosophy.”
Because of the information her salespeople can disseminate, Jennifer has found that her clients enjoy coming into the store, rather than buying online. An internet purchase is much more impersonal and if the customer has any questions about a particular product, they can find the answer in the store.
To help change perceptions and acceptance for her business, Jennifer now spends much of her time speaking and volunteering for various organizations and groups. One of the first groups she joined was the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO).
“I wanted to meet other women business owners and talk to them about the challenges of business ownership. We all have similar issues, and I needed friends with the same problems I was encountering to talk with.”
In addition, she is a founding board member of Plexus, which is Northeast Ohio’s LGBT Chamber of Commerce and is an ally to the community; she was the Director of Marketing for the Gay Games in 2014. She is a long-time member of Cose, the small business division of the Greater Cleveland Partnership.
“I don’t know how to stress enough that people need to get involved in their community because a strong community helps all of us. With the current political climate, we all need to work together, we all need to get along.”
Jennifer’s Message
In her talks she stresses the importance of people connecting.
“One of the things I tell people in all of my speaking engagements is that I want to leave them with one thought. The best gift that you can give your child is to show them a loving relationship. How two people care about each other, treat each other with respect and love. The intimacy, what we have in our business, what we sell, is part of a great relationship. People need and want that closeness, that togetherness.”
One of the aspects of her business that is very gratifying for Jennifer is that young mothers have come up to her in the store and told her that their mother had brought them in as a young girl. That same young girl is now bringing her young daughter into the store as a prelude to beginning her sexual awakening.
“I have had numerous women tell me variations of these comments: You saved my marriage. I got pregnant and I know what I was wearing. We had the best vacation ever, because of your suggestions and ideas. That makes me feel very good, because that is exactly what we are trying to accomplish.”
If you think your business has problems, in the 40 years Jennifer has operated Ambiance, she has encountered every obstacle imaginable, plus a few unimaginable ones, that threatened to wreck her business. In the end she has overcome them and Soared to Success, providing products of an intimate sexual nature to help, both women and men, stay together and add a more enjoyable aspect to their time together.
Watch Jennifer in the Ambiance Valentine’s Day ad here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=11&v=00rZHWuu7mg
Be sure to listen to our podcast with Jennifer on Spreaker and to learn more about her and Ambiance visit: https://www.ambiance.com/.
