As part of this year's sex edition, we profiled the metro's adult stores to help you decide which was right for you. We were especially looking forward to profiling Wink, the closest thing we had to a feminist sex shop in KC. We had written about Wink when it opened in September 2007. Unfortunately, we learned the store closed after less than a year. Why'd we lose a place run by a Ph.D. student in human sexuality? According to the landlord, because of love.
"[Owner Elizabeth Rich's] boyfriend got a job in theater in Minneapolis, and she wanted to be there with him, so she left," said Terry Richardson, the landlord of the shop's former location at 1415 W. 39th St. "Honestly, she had a great response, but this was a case where the owner just lost the incentive. I never saw someone get as many lucky breaks as she did, from advertisers to people voluneteering. I also never saw someone throw something away with both hands like she did. Within two months, it was like she didn't care."
Richardson -- who did not know how to contact Rich -- claims Rich attempted to run the shop from Minneapolis but was unable to keep consistent hours or help. Sometimes the shop would be closed when it was supposed to be open, with a sign out front claiming a big event was on the way. "Then nothing would happen," Richardson says.
The business lease expired in August 2008, but Richardson says the shop was closed in June.
"It's not that there aren't people in Kansas City who want to support that because based on the response she had, they were there," Richardson says. "It's not that the city wasn't ready for a feminist sex shop. It's that she put herself out of business. I've never seen anyone check out like that before."
We're sad to have lost what could've been a great resource for lovers this weekend. None of the stores we visited advised us on whether silicone-based lubes would break down condoms, or how to avoid a yeast infection when using flavored body paint. So, Elizabeth Rich, we hope you're at least happy with your man this Valentine's Day. Wherever you are.
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You guys might want to check out our follow up, The death of Wink II: Trouble in Minnesota. I interview Rich, who, on review, doesn't dispute what Richardson claims and calls her own responses to this story 'abrupt.'
Well, goodness...
I am very easy to find you know...sitting right out in the open writing health policy pieces in Minneapolis/St. Paul. And from one journalist to another, I would have to say your research is pretty shoddy to not even do a basic search for me. Because plenty of people did and pointed me to this story.
If Mr. Rugg would like to know why I am in Minneapolis instead of making me sound like a lovestruck ninny in a community I care about deeply and plan on returning to after I'm done with my fellowship and MPH work, I'd love to talk to him. Until then, an apology would do.
elizabeth rich
www.mn2020.org
I DON'T read the Pitch or the Plog...but I was curious when I saw a link on Tony's (is that much better?--well, at least he tends use facts in his arguments) and clicked--not knowing I would land in this pile of shit.
To disgusted again: please keep reading The Pitch and The Plog, because it is what they have come to expect from you for several years now.
Wow. I am pretty appalled that anyone even let this story go to print. It is so inaccurate and unsubstantiated. And you didn't even talk to Elizabeth!
While Elizabeth did move to Minneapolis, the shop had started to fail long before that happened. (Ask some of the people she borrowed money from--or tried to get emergency loans from.) She had first considered staying here while her fiance lived there--but the shop was failing--and terribly. Minneapolis was a landing place after a failed course of action...not a action of "love."
It's so amazingly insulting that you try to make it sound like she chose her man over her shop. What a sexist, arrogant, and cliched approach to a real story.
Terry's quotes are nice, but "lost incentive" is horribly and recklessly inaccurate. She was losing money! Not incentive!
BTW, you could have easily found Elizabeth Rich. I tried, and did in less than two minutes.
HORRIBLE "reporting." Absolutely irresponsible. But that is what I have come to expect of the Pitch for several years now.
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