XXX Video Rental in the Internet Age

Catering to an aging clientele and forced to compete with easily accessible internet pornography, many adult video shops are finding they must reinvent themselves to survive. I visited Carlington’s Pleasures N’ Treasures to see what they’re doing to adapt.

Kirstyn Seanor – she said that the strangest part of working in a porn shop is explaining to people that you don’t carry bestiality porn because it’s illegal. This has happened to her twice.

Pulling up to what had long been the “Adult Video Warehouse” on Carlington’s gritty section of the Merivale strip, I was dismayed to see the words “Pleasures N’ Treasures” printed tastefully on the front of a remodeled façade. Along with three friends, I was hoping to review some of Ottawa’s sketchiest porn shops, the sort with humming black lights and mysterious ceiling stains. When I walked into a brightly lit space whose laminate flooring had just been lovingly scrubbed by a clean-cut twenty-something, I felt deprived of the borderline experience I was expecting.

Setting out in search of a feature length film with a good storyline and as much bizarreness as possible, we found the selection more encouraging than the squeaky clean interior first seemed to suggest. Nearly every niche genre with a category on youporn was well represented: POV, mature, vintage, watersports, TV parodies like The Sex Files and a disturbingly carnal rendition of the Cosby Show. There were even hours upon hours of vegetable insertions and labial pumping for those with more particular tastes.

Even though my review team, consisting of a lesbian couple and a sitting member of the youth advisory committee of a social justice camp for LGBTQIA+ adolescents, fell well outside the target audience, we mostly confined ourselves to the straight side of the store. Rhube was dealing with a recent breakup, and feared that man-on-man sex would rekindle painful memories. Jenn’s passion for Batman and the female buttocks helped us narrow down our choices, and we walked away with Batman XXX: a sex parody, a two disc, five hour epic entitled Evil Anal and Librianna: bitch of the black sea. That last one was my personal selection, a 1979 portrayal of the daring exploits of a Russian sex-queen determined to bring about the fall of communism through wanton debauchery. Not bad for $9 plus tax.

Rhube, Jenn and Joanna considering candidates for our triple feature. All three were rejected, although Debbie duz Dishes definitely felt like a winner.

I asked Kristyn Seanor, 24 and employed at Pleasures N’ Treasures for the past year, what happened to the adult video warehouse, and why anyone would bother leaving their home when immediate sexual gratification is only a mouse click away.

“Most of our regulars are men over 40… we don’t get a lot of young people unless they’re renting a parody for a movie night,” she explained. While many customers prefer the higher quality of rented videos, others are unable, unwilling or simply afraid to adapt to the world of internet pornography.

Still, with the prospect of more and more regulars passing on to the big porn shop in the sky, the store’s management recognize that they cannot rely on their core clientele indefinitely. The name change and redesign are part of a rebranding effort, aimed to appeal to a wider, younger audience.

“Even a few years ago we had black walls, it all looked a bit depressing and seedy,” says Ms. Seanor. “We’ve tried to clean up to make it more accessible and approachable.” While the store still relies primarily on its male client base, “a big part of rebranding was becoming more female friendly, more couple friendly, and just diversifying what’s available,” she explains. Porn remains the main money maker, but now shares the space with lingerie, costumes and sex toys.

Hitting the internet right where it hurts, staff have begun running a blog featuring the best and worst recent porn titles, including the aptly named “My mommy got divorced and had sex with a black man with a huge cock.” Kudos to the production company for letting us know exactly what we’re in for.

Despite the general scariness of the neighbourhood, both of my female friends felt pretty comfortable in the store. Between Batman XXX and Librianna, we all found something that appealed to us, suggesting that the store’s new marketing strategy might pay off. We’ll be sure to stay tuned into the store blog so we don’t miss the next blockbuster.

After my rental experience, I had to agree that XXX video shops still have a role to play in the 21^st century porn market. It was nice to have a real human being behind the counter, able to respond to my slew of strange questions in a completely non-judgmental way. After a short discussion with Kirstyn, labial pumping doesn’t seem quite so weird anymore. In a world where pornography is often seen as marginal, antisocial and shameful, a welcoming place filled with supportive and positive people goes a long way toward making it a perfectly normal experience. Those elderly luddites, picking up an old favorite after an afternoon spent at the legion, seem to have it all figured out. Maybe all of us should get off our computers and visit our friendly neighbourhood smut merchant.