Miko Exoticwear is moving up College Hill. The sex shop opens this morning in a smaller but better-organized and more pedestrian-friendly location at 268 Wickenden St., said manager Rhiannon Kopynec '06.5.
Though the self-described "retailer, wholesaler and manufacturer of lingerie, sex toys and gifts, books and videos, fetishgear and accessories" already enjoys Brown students' patronage, the store's new location is more accessible for students. The store is leaving its current location on North Main Street and replaces Providence Futon on Wickenden Street.
Brown and RISD students currently make up roughly 30 percent of the shop's customers, Kopynec estimated, adding that the number increases around Halloween. Miko employees also lead "sex toy day" sessions for the Female Sexuality Workshop, which takes a "class field trip" to the store, said FemSex co-coordinator Sarah Sussman '07, who is Kopynec's roommate. Each semester, in the two weeks following the sessions led by Miko employees, "the whole place is Brown students," Kopynec said.
The new Wickenden store's layout and location appealed to Kopynec and owner Jeff Gellman, who began considering the move in the fall. When the site opened up, "We thought, 'Hey, that's perfect!' " Kopynec said.
The original North Main Street store, near Whole Foods Market, wasn't in a pedestrian-friendly shopping area, Kopynec said. There, only a few people stumbled upon Miko, she said. "Here, hundreds of people walk by everyday," she said of Wickenden Street, adding that Fox Point is "a much nicer shopping neighborhood."
The move makes fiscal sense, Kopynec said. Until roughly a year ago, Miko operated its wholesale business out of the North Main site. When Gellman moved that business to Pawtucket, Miko no longer needed as much space.
Laurie Schofield, owner of B on Wickenden, a beauty and bath products shop adjacent to Miko, said she hopes the stores will "be a nice complement to one another."
"The younger women (who shop at Miko) might come in here for stuff they don't have there," she said. Miko customers might be interested in Schofield's shop because it sells "things to get them prepared for a lot of fun," like lotions and lip glosses, Schofield said. Miko will also add to the "diversity on the street," Schofield said.
But not all locals are welcoming this diversity.
"Sex shops do not fit in between a church and an elementary school," said Fox Point resident Marjorie Powning, who lives one block from Wickenden Street. The Sheldon Street Church looks onto Wickenden Street, and the Vartan Gregorian Elementary School is 0.2 miles away from the store at 455 Wickenden. "Fox Point is a dense residential neighborhood with few commercial streets," she said. "Currently, Wickenden Street is family-friendly."
Brown students are looking forward to Miko's move to a location closer to campus.
"Everyone's heard of (Miko) but they don't really know where it is," said Christina Perkins '08.5. Perkins, who said she shops at Miko once or twice a semester, doesn't think she'll visit the new location more often simply because it's closer to her, she said.
"But I'm glad it's closer as a resource to give to other people," she said. "I think (Wickenden) feels more like a part of campus than other things off the Hill. ... People know things that are there."
Sussman said the new location is convenient for students and East Side residents because it's "open late, and it would be really easy to go in" after doing other things on Wickenden, such as getting coffee or a haircut.
But the new location may "be a little bit more secluded from all the other areas of Providence," Sussman said. "It's going to be in a much more upper-class neighborhood."
"Wickenden is actually a more convenient place for me to go," said Post- Sex Columnist Martin Quinones '08, who planned to attend a "massive moving sale" at the old location last night. But Quinones said he was sorry Miko left the old location - a converted firehouse - after the store had just begun expanding into the building's second floor.
"It was just such a beautiful building," he said.
