Good Vibrations

Good Vibrations is the premier retailer trusted for over three decades to provide high quality products, education, and information that promotes sexual health, pleasure, and empowerment. We invented the concept of the clean, well-lighted vibrator store and we’re proud to provide a safe and welcoming environment where customers can shop for sex toys, books, movies, and attend workshops.

Our History

In 1977, dismayed by the lack of resources for women seeking accurate sex information and good quality sex toys, Joani Blank opened the first Good Vibrations retail store in San Francisco's Mission District. She set out to make it a friendly, "clean, well-lighted" alternative to conventional "adult" bookstores. Her efforts met with immediate enthusiasm and appreciation from women and men alike. The store flourished over the years, thanks to a faithful and supportive clientele.

Eventually, Joani decided to sell the business to the employees in 1992.The company continued to grow working to define and refine an alternative workplace model while striving to survive in an increasingly competitive marketplace. In December 1994, we opened a second retail store in Berkeley, California and began to grow the mail order business. A third store opened in 2002 on Polk St. in San Francisco and in 2006, the first store outside the San Francisco area opened in Brookline, Massachusetts.

In 2007, in order to compete and thrive, the business went back to being a single-proprietor business model, as we were from 1977 to 1992. Currently we operate with a core management team comprised of a diverse group of leaders, many of them women and longtime staff who worked at Good Vibrations during the co-op years. Good Vibrations is proud to be vital, growing, and still the market leader after three decades. We have launched a movie production line, expanded our wholesale division, developed dozens of exclusive products, and plan further retail expansion with new stores. Throughout our history, Good Vibrations has always retained the focus on our original goal of helping more people have better sex lives.

We have always been innovators and advocates for improving our industry. When safety concerns over phthalates in sex toys arose, we were among the first companies to remove those products from our shelves. This shift inspired us to launch our line of Ecorotic® Green Sex Toys, offering our customers the most environmentally-friendly products available. Throughout our history, we have supported new companies that created ground-breaking products, such as silicone dildos and vibrators and women-made porn. Some of those companies are among the biggest success stories in our industry. And we have always contributed to our communities through donations; in 2009 we launched our GiVe campaign, which partners with local and national non-profit organizations.

Our Mission

Good Vibrations is a diverse, woman-focused retailer providing high-quality, sex-positive products and non-judgmental, accurate sex information through our clean and comfortable stores, catalog, web site, wholesale division, product and movie production lines in order to enhance our customers’ sex lives and promote healthy attitudes about sex.

Our Vision Statement

We recognize that sexuality touches on every aspect of our lives and that many people face challenges around positive sexual expression. Our goal is to help everyone we come into contact with to discover ways to experience sexual pleasure, health, and well-being. Since sexual diversity is a core component of the human experience and each person’s sexuality will change over the lifespan, we welcome all forms of consensual sexual expression, desire, and fantasy.

Good Vibrations strives to be an agent for social change, through the lenses of sexuality, diversity and ethical business practices. Both within our organization, and throughout the communities we serve, we are committed to fostering respect, promoting supportive communication, providing access to educational resources and strongly advocating for women in leadership roles.

Our Values Statement

Sex-Positivity At Good Vibrations, we believe that sexual pleasure is everyone's birthright.

We believe that sexual pleasure is an important part of all of our lives, and that everyone should be able to live the sex life that's right for them. We take it as our mission to respond to all forms of sexual shame and support people as they discover their authentic sexual selves.

We believe that any adult consensual sexual activity is something to affirm and celebrate. We do not judge anyone's sexual preferences or choices, so long as those choices and activities are between adults and consented to by everyone involved or affected.

Ongoing education is essential to our mission. In order to be the best possible resource for our customers, we constantly strive to have a better understanding of sexual variation and to advance our own knowledge of sexual pleasure and desire.

To provide an environment that is supportive of our customer's needs, we understand that our Sex Educator-Sales Associates must maintain an open and respectful attitude and to model sex-positive, non-judgmental communication at all times.

Education We employ a Staff Sexologist, Dr. Carol Queen who has been with the company for over 20 years. We are known for our educational workshops like our After Hours and Humpday Happy Hour classes, our extensive Sexual Health Outreach Workshops (SHOW) program and many other outreach events we do in communities at large around sex education and sexual health.

Sex Educator-Sales Associates (SESAs) In 1993, Good Vibrations coined the phrase “Sex Educator-Sales Associate” as the job title for our front-line staff. We have always understood that education needs to come before selling anything because that’s the best way to make sure that our customers can find and choose the products that will best meet their needs. We have inspired many other companies with our model and some of them have even used the same job title for their staff. We’re proud to be leaders in the industry and to know that the value of our work is recognized by our peers.

We take staff education very seriously; a knowledgeable staff provides quality customer service and accurate information. Our SESAs understand and can educate our customers about the finer details of our products, human sexuality and anatomy, as well as useful how-to tips and techniques that make sex more pleasurable. Because they are our front-line representatives of sex-positivity, all SESAs are required to participate in an extensive training program taught by staff PhDs. This training is supplemented by readings and ongoing continuing education.

Product Selection As part of an ever-expanding and changing industry, we have been at the forefront of advocating for improved products for over 30 years. We carry the highest quality toys, books, and movies available, while recognizing that the diversity of our customers’ tastes and interests requires a range of options.

We encourage customers to share feedback with us and we regularly offer this information to manufacturers in order to encourage them to improve their products. Over the years, we have inspired many positive changes in our industry.

Good Vibrations' focus is to carry products that provide sexual/sensual pleasure or that are sex-enhancing supplies. Although our emphasis is on items that provide physical stimulation, we acknowledge the power of fantasy and the erotic imagination in our inclusion of products, such as books, and movies. We carry books that focus on sex or sexuality, as well as relationships, love, gender, health, reproduction. We also carry a limited selection of novelty party supply items, gift kits, games, and our hosted events for Bachelorette parties and Mommy Playdates are wildly successful.

As part of our commitment to honesty and education, we offer our customers information about both the advantageous features and limitations of our products. While we make suggestions based on assessments of customer needs and desires, we do not employ any sales tactic involving undue pressure to purchase.

Good Vibrations does not carry products that exploit sexual insecurities or peoples' desire for a “quick fix” solution to sexual dysfunctions.

To ensure that the products we carry meet these standards, we review every toy, book and movie before we consider carrying it.

Our Customers All adults are welcome at Good Vibrations stores, and no one is excluded based on identity or their preferences in consensual adult sexual behavior. We make every effort to meet customers where they are in the evolution of their own personal sexual development.

We value and respect our customers' privacy. Every package is discreetly shipped and we never sell or rent your email address.

Each Good Vibrations retail location is a friendly, inviting environment where any customer can feel safe to shop and ask questions of our Sex-Educator Sales Associates.

The law requires our in-store customers as well as our online customers to be 18 years of age or older.

Our Staff We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. We have zero tolerance for harassment or discrimination of any kind. We have a Sex and Gender policy that is built into the company handbook and company culture.

Women in Leadership

Good Vibrations was founded by a woman in support of personal and professional development for women. In addition to our support of women's sexual desire and potential, we recognize the critical contribution women make as business leaders in industry, our workplace and society. We strive to create a working environment in which the contribution of all genders is recognized and valued equally.