THEY ARE JUST MANNEQUINS, RIGHT?
By CYNTHIA H. Cho
NEWPORT NEWS — Sam McCall is in the business of selling women's lingerie and adult novelty toys.
He and his family have been successful: Over the past 12 years, they have opened 20 Priscilla's locations throughout the Southeast that together generate $18 million in sales annually. The newest store opened in late May in Newport News, and McCall said three more stores are set to open this year in North Carolina.
That isn't to say that there haven't been any challenges or difficulties -- because of the kinds of items on sale at Priscilla's stores, some communities have not welcomed the Greensboro-based company. The most recent opening, on Warwick Boulevard near Denbigh Boulevard, is an example.
"Every time we go in [to a new area] we get flak," said McCall, 71. Some towns and residents, he said, have posed more resistance than others.
Just days after the May 25 opening of the Newport News Priscilla's store -- the first one in Hampton Roads for the company -- one resident wrote a letter to the Daily Press to complain about the store's window display, which features mannequins dressed in lingerie.
Lyndell Lewis wrote, "I do not feel that this is an appropriate store for that location. There is a lot of foot traffic in that intersection that is children."
Newport News City Councilwoman Sharon Scott said Thursday that she has received eight to 10 e-mails and a couple of calls from residents raising concern about the store.
"They just wanted to know why we were allowing this kind of business in the city," said Scott, who said she doesn't plan to take any action on the matter. "When I passed by it, I saw lingerie in the window. The window didn't seem distasteful -- I guess it's a matter of opinion. I didn't see anything that caused any concern."
McCall, who runs the company with his wife, Priscilla, and stepson, David Moon, said that, over the years, they've learned to be aware of people's sensitivities. For example, Priscilla's stores are set up to be a destination -- they're usually free-standing stores or in small strip malls with little foot traffic -- so that only people who want to see what's in the store will see what's in the store.
That's the same reason that most Priscilla's stores are set back from the road, typically about 100 feet, to prevent people from unwillingly seeing what's on display. From inside a car at the intersection of Warwick Boulevard and Denbigh Boulevard, a driver would be able to see that some of the female mannequins are wearing two-piece lingerie, but not in too much detail.
Also, the company prohibits minors from shopping at the store. The following is written on the door of the Newport News store: "Warning. Sexually oriented merchandise on display. Must be 18 to enter."
Women make up about 80 percent of Priscilla's customer base. And about 85 percent of the company's employees who work inside the stores are women.
Earlier this week, 19-year-old Newport News resident Jessica Elizondo was shopping at Priscilla's with her boyfriend, 20-year-old Kenneth Shivers. They walked around the store, sometimes together and sometimes separately, looking at the items for sale.
It was the first time that either one had been inside the store; they had noticed it while they were driving. Neither made a purchase that day but left eyeing a few things for a second visit. (McCall said he expects sales at the Newport News store this year to hit $750,000.)
For Shivers, it was the $169.95 "fantasy swing." Elizondo said she liked the "little things," like candy, gels, gag gifts. She said she'd consider a pair of edible underwear -- because her boyfriend had seemed interested in it. *