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Batteries Not Included
Just in time for Valentine's Day, we warmed up to the fellas behind Wicker Park's adult toy shop.
Roy Cortes, 46, owner
On starting up the business “My friend owns the Halsted location [of Batteries Not Included], and he was looking to open something else. We were considering a business called Cuts, the male version of Curves, but we became disillusioned with that. So we [decided on] a second location of Batteries Not Included. Wicker Park seemed like the most underserved and exciting area.”
On customer favorites “When we opened three and a half years ago, we only had a four-foot-long restraint and fetish section, but [I learned] that [Wicker Park] is a huge fetish and restraint neighborhood. There are more dungeons and dominatrix establishments here than in any other part of the city. They want nipple clamps, ball gags, furry handcuffs in eight or nine colors. There’s nothing I have bought in this category that has failed. We went from that four feet to 20 feet in a matter of a few years.”
On surprising success “We’ve sold a lot of harnesses. I’ve tried to sell rainbow stuff during Pride Week, and here it flops, [so at first I was confused] why the harnesses are selling. A lot of straight men are getting done by their girlfriends. They’re experimenting with men being the bottom. I thought it was kind of a fetish thing, but apparently it’s pretty standard.”
Jeffery Jenkins, 40, sales associate
On the most shocking product available “The rubber fist. I’m interested in seeing who purchases that particular object, and I’d love to know what they’re doing with it and how it works. It is kind of large. We also have one called Dick Rambone with a suction cup so you can put it on floor. It’s about a 24-inch-long dong. It’s really expensive [$30], and it’s like, how do [you] accommodate that?”
On reactions from telling people where he works “They first have a somewhat surprised look, and then they’re intrigued. They have a conception that it’s like the ’70s with people coming in wearing trench coats and looking for glory holes. But it’s a normal atmosphere, and we are in a market where people need these things.”
On the lessons learned “It’s a matter of breaking through walls to make people feel comfortable. Sometimes people can be wary or unsure, and my job is to break down those barriers in comfort and reassurance and tell people it’s okay to look at these things. We have things for all tastes or fetishes or whatever quirky thing you’re into.”
Paul Muller, 23, assistant manager
On his favorite product, the We-Vibe. “It’s a dual-stimulator toy but only three-and-a-half-inches long; the bottom of it is a G-spot stimulator and the top is a clit stimulator. It’s all medical-grade silicone, comes with a glasses case, and it’s rechargeable. The vibration feels good on the guy and gives him a target.”
On the first day on the job “My first customer in Boystown [when I started at the other location] was during the International Mr. Leather Week. It was this enormous Swedish man wearing assless chaps, and he wanted an anal douche. I knew nothing about it. I think my jaw hit the floor and the manager handled that one.”
On playing with the toys “I am in a poly relationship, so that affords me the opportunity to play with a lot of the toys. A lot of manufacturers make one style of bullet for, like, 50 toys. I try some of them out so I can give people an idea of what the vibrations will be like. Same with the lube. There’s no way I could try all the lubes and sensitizing gels, so I have a bunch of spreadsheets of what ingredients are in them, critiques and what the side effects are like.”
Batteries Not Included is located at 1439 N Milwaukee Ave (773-489-2200, toysafterdark.com).
