Like much of SoHo, Wooster Street boasts an array of fashionable names such as Chanel, Céline, Ted Baker and Moschino. And starting today, that roster will also include Pornhub.
Yes, Pornhub, as in the adult entertainment website that receives more than 75 million visitors every day. The 10-year-old company is opening its first-ever fashion retail store in the heart of SoHo, and the pop-up location will be open at 70 Wooster St. until Dec. 20.
While it’s a move that may be surprising to those who only know Pornhub as an adult entertainment provider, a brick-and-mortar retail store is a natural progression for the brand, which launched Pornhub Apparel in 2015 and has since done Fashion Week collaborations with streetwear brands Hood By Air and Richardson.
While the Wooster Street store intends to simulate the look and feel of Pornhub’s homepage, thanks in part to a large video screen that will show SFW content, that’s pretty much where similarities end — though vistors still need to be 18 or older.
“If we were going to make a retail store, we wanted to make sure we were in New York in SoHo, where all the fashion brands are,” Vice President Corey Price told Metro. “We see this as a fashion store; it’s much more of a brand store and a fashion store than a sex shop.”
Products include branded Pornhub items like hoodies, tank tops and accessories; reissues and additions to the Richardson collection; a collection from porn star Christy Mack to raise awareness for domestic violence; and a range of items from the Museum of Sex. There will also be a few sex toys from Ann Summers’ line, but “they won’t be the focus,” Price said.
Tucked away in the back of the store is a faux-fur-covered bed where visitors can interact with a camera that will livestream on Pornhub.com.
“We thought we’d have a way to incorporate the website into the store,” Price explained, before adding that the bed is “only PG. It’s a PG bed.”
When asked if the Wooster Street pop-up is testing the waters for a more permanent New York-based Pornhub store, Price kept mum.
“Could be … we’ll see how it goes,” he said with a laugh.
Pornhub had been quietly setting up before Black Friday’s grand opening, and Metro found a few mixed reactions to the adult entertainment brand setting up shop for a few weeks.
Two Wooster Street residents who asked not to be named thought it was “atrocious” and a “mar” on neighboring stores, while Katia, 37, who lives nearby, saw no problem.
“If you don’t like it, don’t go in,” she said.
Pornhub’s pop-up shop will be open at 70 Wooster St. from Black Friday to Dec. 20. Its hours are Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 7 p.m. Visitors must be 18 or older.
