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My Story by Steve Bannister

When I opened Aren’t We Naughty in Downtown Brampton in 1983, many customers wanted gifts for people turning 40 and 50 years of age. I just remember thinking that was a long way off for me. I mean when you are 24 years of age, 40 is a long way off. Well here I am today, 25 years later, and wow, I can’t believe it. I actually started AWN at 23. This is when the planning and name was created. Believe it or not, I remember creating the name while doing the dishes. Yes I’m domesticated!

I knew I had to do something different to be successful. I knew the new business success rates were very low. I had graduated from Sheridan College with a major in Marketing and I was working as a technician for Bell Canada. I loved it, but I knew I could never be great at it as I had to be trained to operate a screw driver. I like to be great at everything I do. So later, when the telephone industry became deregulated, I switched jobs to enter the private sector in order improve my long term prospects.

The new job was boring. My girlfriend at the time had a lingerie hope party and that was it. “I will open a retail store selling Sex Toys, Novelties and Lingerie”, I said to myself. Then I saw Lovecraft who is located in Toronto. Lovecraft was the future of the industry and I clearly saw that. They made sex fun. Their atmosphere was awesome and cool. Now my goal was to do the same thing, perhaps a little better. Include the right product mix, music, proper lighting, and most important, leave the customers alone somewhat, and I should have a winning formula. All this takes money. What helped me get started was my grandmother left me a house. I took a risk and sold the house and used the proceeds to open Aren’t We Naughty. It was July 1983. My mother wasn’t too thrilled, but I felt success was around the corner and it was.

Soon after I opened, a group of women called “Canadians for Decency” wanted us closed down. I was concerned. The city politicians would stop by the store and pick on some lingerie or a birthday card and wink at me and tell me not to worry. They supported our store and the fact it was clean and encouraged love and fun.

I worked the store everyday with my Mom and one other part time person. Yes my Mom came around, she was cool and proud. In 1986 I met the love of my life Aida. In 1987, I started my growth and I opened up in Weston. This was an immediate success. Aida was included in everything I did. She loved to work and is so hands on. The following year 1988 was a huge year for me. I started my wholesale business BMS Enterprises in February, and was married in April. One of the biggest jobs I had was to convince my wife to quit her banking job and run with me. She loved banking so much.

The wholesale business was slow at first but soon grew. I only started the wholesale business because I didn’t like who I was buying from. There was very little choice in buying wholesale sex toys in those days and the person we all used the most abused his position of strength in the market. He had 10 different price lists and bragged about it. Today good service and honesty is the only way to do business. We have one price list in our wholesale division.

Aren’t We Naughty continues to look for locations. It’s our biggest challenge. I am proud of Canada and our government’s position on sex. As the cable and satellite companies in Canada can broadcast porn to everyone’s home, we still have landlords out there who still refuse to give Aren’t We Naughty a location. They have no idea who our customer is. That we draw above average income people who are above 25 years of age on average, with 55-60% women. Often we get categorized with the XXX movie business which hurts us and I find that the most frustrating. Today these XXX stores are gone. Rogers and Bell now have taken over as well as internet porn. All these mediums broadcast porn directly into your home and not cheap either. It is huge revenue for them. Who would ever dream Bell and Rogers would offer Gay only Channels. We have come a long way!

It was now 2000-2001 and Aida and I had three stores and BMS was growing. We were sitting in 10,000 square feet of wholesale space, but I needed a change to my business plan or risk losing what I have built up. Soon we hired a General Manager and we stepped down from the day to day duties to let him do his job and that was not easy. Today we have 11 stores from Ottawa to Windsor. All have been nicely renovated and attract great clientele. We have won the Best Adult Store –Gold Award for 7 years straight from the Toronto Sun Readers Choice Awards.

Two years ago, we moved BMS and AWN to a 41,000 square foot stand alone building back in Brampton where the whole thing started. Today, in our entire organization, including a factory of 30 people in China, we employ about 155 people. It all started in that little store in Downtown Brampton in 1983 and I must say without my wife and my Mom, and our love for hard work, I wouldn’t be writing this now. We are simply down to earth hard working people and we still are.

I take this time to thank AWN and BMS and for a great ride so far! I’m sure some of you have had a great ride to…. Seriously, I’ve always dreamed of travelling, especially to Asia. Now I go 3 to 4 times a year and there is no stopping my love for travelling and my love for this business. I take this time to thank my loyal customers, my present and past staff who have stood by me all these years and believed in this great concept and me.

Most of all, Thank You Brampton.

Sincerely,

Steve Bannister
Head Honcho,

Aren’t We Naughty
www.arentwenaughty.com
www.ultimatepersonalshaver.com

My Story by Steve Bannister

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