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Fifty Shades whips up sales at Danish sex shops

The Local Denmark
The Local Denmark - [email protected]
Fifty Shades whips up sales at Danish sex shops
Fifty Shades of Grey is fueling a boom in sex toy sales and sado-masochistic accessories. Photo: Jewel Samad/AFP/Scanpix

Whips, blindfolds and anal beads are selling like hotcakes in the nation's sex shops in the run-up to the highly-anticipated film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey.

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When the 100 million-selling erotic trilogy Fifty Shades of Grey hits Danish theatres on Thursday, it won’t just be cinemas that cash in on the books' massive popularity. 
 
Sex shops throughout Denmark are reporting a boost in sales in sex toys inspired by the Fifty Shades books and feature film adaptation. 
 
Shops in Copenhagen and Aarhus are stocking up on both sex toys and manpower to meet the demand of Danes who want to replicate the antics of Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey.
 
 
“We’ve purchased double the amount of erotic accessories in the more kinky area. It’s primarily blindfolds, whips and anal sex toys – for example the slightly less elegant butt plugs – that customers are demanding,” Sabina Elvstram-Johns, the owner of the Copenhagen sex shop Lust, told public broadcaster DR
 
Elvstram-Johns said that ever since the first Fifty Shades book was released in Denmark in 2012, there has been a growing interest in more adventurous sex. 
 
“We have expanded our customer base ever since. I can tell that Mr. and Mrs. Denmark now want to experiment with their wild side,” she said. 
 
The same can be said in Aarhus, where the sex toy company Sinful.dk has been having great success selling whips, anal beads and lubricants bearing the Fifty Shades brand.
 
“Already before the books were released we sold a lot of their products. It was crazy. You can compare it to the release of a new Disney film, when all the kids want the newest merchandise. Here it’s the same, but with adults,” Mathilde Mackowski, the owner of Sinful.dk, told Aarhus Stiftstidende
 
Mackowski said that her online sex shop, which also services Sweden and Norway, will hire extra employees in its warehouse and add weekend shifts to help meet customer demand. 
 
Speaking to DR, Mackowski predicted that the officially-branded sex merchandise will continue to grow after the Fifty Shades film hits theatres and helps to further normalize sexual practices that were once considered kinky and shameful. 
 
“Just the fact that we talk about it and dare to sit on the train or in the plane and show that we are reading Fifty Shades of Grey is removing the tabu around this kind of sex and is making it more normal,” she said. 
 
You can see the trailer for the Fifty Shades of Grey film here: 

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