Naughty But Nice

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But success didn't come easy. The stores languished until 1984, when Gold's efforts finally began to pay off, in large measure because of the introduction of more wholesome goods. "[Gold] took the shops away from their run-down, seedy image," notes Kim Rawlings, editor of Contours, a lingerie trade magazine. "They sell a lot more basic lingerie now."

Transplanting a homegrown sex business onto distant shores will doubtless prove risky. Gold hopes to avoid offending local sensibilities by going the franchise route. "It helps us to have someone who understands the local culture," she says. So far, Ann Summers' Dublin store is the only one that has drawn opposition. Downtown merchants--saying a sex shop, no matter how posh, doesn't belong on a main shopping avenue--tried to get it moved to a side street. But the opposing retailers could not find any legal reason to keep the shop off O'Connell Street, and the company turned a deaf ear to their appeals to leave.

Gold says she considers her shops fashionable boutiques and O'Connell Street the perfect location. Ireland has already become a proven market: Ann Summers holds 200 home parties a week there. Since the company does no advertising, Gold understands that a touch of controversy--so long as it's as relatively demure as the image she is trying to promote--can't hurt.