Where Are They Now? Kamloops sex doll startup put on hold, moved to Alberta
Credit to Author: Cayley Dobie| Date: Mon, 30 Dec 2019 17:14:03 +0000
KAMLOOPS — Kamloops’ first sex doll rental business didn’t last long, having come and gone in just a few months, but it piqued the curiosity of a number of residents.
The home-based business House of Dolls opened in December 2018, renting out nights with anatomically correct, TPE silicone-based sex dolls.
A fervour, both positive and negative, followed, with business owner Kristen Dickson doing numerous media interviews following the launch of her business’s website, which crashed multiple times from an overload of traffic.
However, by March of 2019, House of Dolls was no longer operating in Kamloops as personal matters unrelated to the business led to Dickson moving to Calgary — taking the dolls with her — and putting her business on hold.
Catching up with Kamloops This Week in recent days, Dickson described her short time in business in Kamloops as “amazing.”
“I had quite a few customers and I had multiple repeat customers,” she said.
Dickson said she was making about 15 deliveries a month, describing her Kamloops clientele as 70 per cent male and 30 per cent couples.
She said a lot of people were simply curious about the experience, noting the dolls were always in good condition when she retrieved them in the mornings.
“People were very respectful,” she said, adding she was surprised at the amount of support she received for the endeavour when she first opened, as she anticipated more criticism.
“Many people said it was a brilliant idea, so I was pretty proud. I was expecting worse,” she said.
Dickson had considered franchising her business, but abandoned those plans as there was more curiosity than commitment. At that point, she said, it was an overwhelming prospect.
“People were contacting me like crazy across the country. I even had people in the United States contact me to open up a business there, but it was too much, too quickly,” Dickson said, noting the media attention — which began with a Nov. 21, 2018, story in Kamloops This Week — was intense.
“My stepfather was in Ottawa and read an article about me and had no idea,” Dixon said with a laugh.
While Dickson’s business is currently on hiatus, she plans to re-open it at some point in her Alberta home.
Dickson’s business licence from city hall in Kamloops was deemed an adult novelty item rental agency.
Dickson delivered the dolls to her customers rather than having them attend a storefront “brothel-type” business, which the City of Kamloops would consider a body rub parlour, a type of business prohibited in the Tournament Capital.
As a rental agency, as far as the city is concerned, what people do with the items in their own homes is their business.
City business licence inspector David Jones told Kamloops This Week in November 2018 that, in the rental category, the House of Dolls business would be treated no differently than an entrepreneur setting up a company that rented out bouncy castles.
Dickson said she hopes someone else will follow her lead and open such a business again in Kamloops.
“There have been a few that have tried the brothel-type idea, but they don’t seem to last,” she said.