I wouldn’t normally recommend Pigalle to ladies. It’s simply not a very elegant, fashionable, or aesthetically pleasing place to shop. Aside from the Moulin Rouge, the Musée de l’Erotisme, and Rebecca Rills’ Supermarché Erotique (all which are better visited with someone), Pigalle is hardly mentioned in the Naughty Paris Guide. But when I received the email from Michelle Rogers of Gadabout Paris that she was organizing a "Ladies-Only Research Trip" to check out the sex shops of Pigalle, of course I agreed to come along for the fun. Besides, I always wanted an excuse to visit the super-tacky Sex-o-Drome!

 
Ten women of different ages and nationalities met at the exit of the Pigalle metro station. This wholesome gang basically looked like a bachelorette party sans silly outfits, as we proceeded to enter each and every sex shop along the boulevard, no matter how tacky or vulgar it looked from the outside.

At the meeting point, with the red neon of the Sex-o-Drome in the background.
And they all look like such nice girls, don't they? ;-)

Michelle (being a pro) took notes, collected cartes de visites, and asked important questions to the bored cashiers: “What’s downstairs?” “Rooms for watching videos.” “What does this do?” (he paused on that one, unsure of the vocabulary) “You sit on it.” One place we went into had about ten screens showing different videos all at once, above the registers. Most of the ladies pretended not to notice.

An example of some of the kitschy wares on display at most of the shops.

We laughed at some of the sillier sex toys, mostly kitsch junk for parties. I thought the hand knit “tea cozies” for men (to keep the family jewels warm) were particularly creative, especially since the one knitted in Blue-White-Red (France’s flag) was twice as large as the one in Green-White-Red (the Italian flag), and France had just lost a huge football match to the Italians that week. As a writer who has done translations for packaging in the beauty industry, I tend to find the descriptions of the products most intriguing: “It’s frickin’ f*ckalicious!” (on a green and yellow vibrator). I started wondering if copyeditors were well paid in this industry. They certainly need one: “Smell like a real woman!” (that’s not my typo; on an inflatable Chinese doll).

One of the more "welcoming" entrances.

We were all quite impressec by the video sections, the way they were so carefully organized by categories (and most of those categories too explicit to even mention here in polite company). One woman, a tall blonde, asked a clerk for a video that was “very sexy , tasteful and erotic, but not vulgar” and was shown “Drunken Gang Bang”. Another quiet-spoken, petite lady managed to bargain down the price for two videos she liked at one store - from €45 each to €40 for both!

"Maxi" and "Erotique" are not two words that I would ever recommend using together .

I found some Paris-themed condoms at the aptly named “Souvenirs Sexy” shop (at 40 blvd Clichy), but they had all expired in 2007. I pointed this out to the clerk. He gave me another one for free. I guess they’re just meant to be for fun, not for actual use. After each shop, Michelle would ask us how many stars we thought the place should have. We got much better at this after we’d seen five or six in a row. I would say my own average rating would be "one star".

My "Souvenirs Sexy" condoms (2-pack)

Of course, I knew that Rebecca Rills would be their favorite.  It basically looks like a regular clothing boutique, if you normally wore silk corsets and leather thigh high boots. They also have a fairly mainstream (read: tame) selection of toys and books. The summer sales apply to these stores as well, so there was a bigger crowd than usual, checking out the discounted corsets and stocking. I bought some aphrodisiac "pleasure" chocolates (one with chili pepper and one with ginger). I'll be sure to report back on the effects.

Rebecca Rills' "Supermarché Erotique" Five stars all the way!

 
The shopping carts can come in handy during the sales...

After about eight boutiques, we were only halfway done, and I had a dinner date waiting for me, so alas, I had to leave the ladies to explore the Sex-o-Drome without me. Looking forward to reading Michelle’s write-up and reviews at Gadabout!