Not one to be pigeonholed into the connotations of your run-of-the-mill sex shop, High Tide is tackling sexual wellness from a more inclusive and open approach.
Led by couple Paige Aubort and Søren Poulsen, who first met working at the same bar, High Tide is a departure from their hospitality background but still retains the essence of what initially drew them to the industry.
"We've just loved working in incredible venues, where you step into a space and you're transported into a specific time or place and that's what we tried to recreate," says Paige.
Located on Rankins Lane in the CBD, the entire space and aesthetic conjures something reminiscent of a boutique jewellery store or high-end skincare store with warm low lights, a natural tone colour palette with soft timber shelving and furnishings throughout.
"Essentially we designed the space around what we'd want to shop in, something that felt very calm, warm and textural and tactile," says Paige.
Throughout the 45sqm space, there are over 100 products on display.
Each toy's placement in the store has been carefully curated, encompassing its own space based on an arrangement of colour; the idea of which is to allow customers to freely interact with products regardless of gender or sexuality.
"There's no category, no visual merchandising, so it inherently means you have to walk the entire store...in a polite way, you're forced to look at everything," Paige laughs.
A contrast to your conventional adult stores, Paige explains some of the biggest motivations for High Tides' more approachable feel to its layout, "you often go into shops and the designs on the boxes are just so aggressive, especially the bodies on them, no one looks like that...we just didn't want anyone to feel like if I don't have this body then I don't deserve to have this pleasure."
Although High Tide is a traditional brick-and-mortar operation there is still an online component to the business, "there are just so many people who all want different experiences...some people are really private about it and then we've had people come into the store who say they've never owned a toy before and they don't want to online shop for something that physically goes inside of your body." Paige explains.
Alongside the standard operating hours of 10am until 6pm Wednesday to Sunday, High Tide is also available for by-appointment visits. "We just found that there are people that work at those hours, have a special occasion or anniversary, or have friends who've never bought a vibrator before and want a space where they comfortable to talk about things," says Paige.
High Tide is located at 5 Rankins Lane in the CBD, head over here for more.
Image credit: Ryan Noriekz