Where there’s a will to educate the curious and those lacking in sexual knowledge, there’s a woman ready to lead the way. In Mississippi, where sex education leaves much to be desired, Kathi Pepper is that leading lady.
After co-founding a home party business in the mid-1990s, Pepper and her husband, James, found themselves with a consumer audience that refused to be constrained to weekend soirees. Drawing shy sex toy shoppers from all around town, Pepper ran a fully stocked toy shop in the privacy of her own home until customer demand finally outweighed what the Peppers’ humble abode could handle. The couple then made things official and debuted their first brick-and-mortar store, Pepper’s Parties, Too.
Running an adult boutique in the Deep South is very different than in many parts of the U.S., and light-years away from anything in Los Angeles.
Though the business initially succeeded without a single trade show visit, Pepper now says that colleague camaraderie is what maintains her enthusiasm. She pours her heart into her relationships with fellow industry legends, who keep her informed and on her toes so she can deliver the best to her local community.
This month, XBIZ Premiere recognizes Kathi Pepper as a hometown hero, someone to watch and a business maven worthy of being named WIA’s Woman of the Month.
XBIZ: What drew you to launch your business in the home party sector, and how did the business work before you opened your brick-and-mortar shop?
Kathi Pepper: I first attended a home party on a whim in 1995 with a big party chain. The party rep was attempting to recruit as she was selling. As a participant, I sat quietly, but my brain was spinning. I seriously evaluated their plan, but it wasn’t right for me. I knew I could do this, but I didn’t want to be involved in a multilevel marketing type of program. My husband, James — aka Dr. Pepper — encouraged me to go for it. And we did.
We built a small, local home party plan that covered the southern half of Mississippi and parts of Louisiana and Alabama. We didn’t want to be a large company or an MLM. We just wanted “a few good women” working our local area. It was a joint effort of me and Dr. Pepper. I have been the face and voice, but Dr. Pepper does so very much that most never even see, and that’s a whole different interview because he’s amazing! We had an enclosed garage in our house that was originally planned to be our product warehouse.
But here’s what happened. People began to call me, asking if they could come by to get some Coochy shave creme or buy another silver bullet because theirs died. People just started showing up at our house, sometimes just walking right inside if the doors weren’t locked! They would peer into the window at 3 a.m. We realized we had to take control of what was happening. We never intended on having a store out of our house, but we built it, and they came!
We had to shift to “appointment required” shopping to manage the situation. We wanted the customers to have their privacy while shopping, like at a party. Unbeknownst to me, some folks complained, but we had great support from our city officials, who endorsed the appointment-required model, and we began to really flourish. We were running our house store by day and a party every night, with two on Saturdays.
We did this model for 16 years, working long, long hours. I purchased from catalogs. We never went to trade shows. I used two distributors, Holiday Products and Burto Products. In 2012, we opened a brick-and-mortar, Pepper’s Parties, Too.
Here’s where everything comes full circle. The party rep at that first party was the aunt of our current store manager, Lindsey.
XBIZ: Where are you focusing your efforts now?
Pepper: Though I’m still very involved with Pepper’s Parties, Too, my work there does not necessarily require being in the store on a daily basis. Our staff is well trained and awesome to work with. In addition to my store duties, I want to continue to focus on being a local brand ambassador, or LBA.
My “partial retirement,” as I called it, was basically to let my customers know that I’m no longer doing home parties. After 20 years of traveling to the parties and running two stores, it was time for a change. I stopped driving to people’s homes and had the parties come to me. Then COVID hit. All parties were canceled.
So yes, COVID was the final challenge for our home party program after 26 years, but it opened a new opportunity, and this is why I love my LBA job. Training a store is very similar to a home party except I have a different audience. I don’t have to deal with drunk participants and don’t have to drive home at 1 a.m.! Educating people about sexual health and wellness and how adult products can make a difference in their lives is my passion, whether I’m talking to the consumer or the sales staff that relays the message to the consumer.
XBIZ: Tell us a bit about your boutique’s unique audience and how you reach them.
Pepper: Running an adult boutique in the Deep South is very different than in many parts of the U.S., and light-years away from anything in Los Angeles. That being said, it’s not all bad. It’s just different. There’s a lack of education when it comes to sex and that plays in our favor, but sometimes to our detriment. Some of the challenges we’ve faced have included finding a location, advertising and the chamber of commerce, among others.
When we started looking for a place to rent, many people told us that they did not want to have anything to do with a store such as ours. With regard to advertising, we’ve been turned down by a local TV channel, some print advertising, expos and more. With the advertising that we have been allowed to use, we’ve had to be extremely careful about the words that we use. This is where we’ve pulled out our “sexual health and wellness” cards!
One of the biggest blows I received was from a local group called the Area Development Partnership, essentially our chamber of commerce. They courted me, invited me to their social events and then ghosted me. Several months later, one of the board members came into Pepper’s to shop. We chatted for a bit before she informed me that my membership had been denied. It’s the first ever in their history, so there’s that. But I have developed a motto that keeps me going and keeps me sane during times like these: “Focus on the people who say yes to you, and don’t worry about the ones who say no.” We have five radio stations who let us run ads, a billboard, some print advertising, a women’s expo and more. Plus, we still have a place to call home and we are just grateful for the people who say yes.
In the Deep South, there’s still a lot of poor information and sexual shame. But I have seen the curve shifting and I’d like to think that we’ve been a small part of that. We’ve done our very best at trying to normalize sex. Because of the lack of education, we will always have work that needs to be done. Sometimes it’s just the simple things in helping people to understand how our bodies work. The vulva puppet has been used a lot!
XBIZ: Was sexual wellness always on your mind as a career option? Where did you get your start on your path?
Pepper: I have a master’s degree in counseling psychology, so I’ve always approached our business from a sexual health and wellness point of view even before it became a cliche term/catchphrase in our industry. A couple of taglines that we used in the beginning to describe the parties were “educationally entertaining” and “you’ll laugh and learn.”
XBIZ: Whom do you idolize in the industry for business and pleasure/wellness acumen? Are there any female colleagues who have inspired you along the way?
Pepper: It’s more like a place rather than a person. When we opened Pepper’s Parties, Too, we went to our first trade show, ILS. While there, we visited a few stores in LA and the Pleasure Chest really got my attention. Their approach to retail and consumer education really made an impression on me and how I wanted our store to be represented.
There are people along the way who have really stood out to me. Within the last five years or so, Cheri Curry has been an amazing sounding board for me, particularly as I’ve entered the manufacturing side, but she’s way more than that; she’s family. There’s also two men that I really respect and admire who have been wonderful guides along the way: Scott Watkins and the late Larry Garland. Whenever I’ve had a product question, the one person who knows just about everything about every product is the “Dilly Slinger,” Molly Romeo of Holiday Products.
Locally, I’m blessed to be a part of a group, Women Business Owners of the Pine Belt. They have accepted me for the work I do, encouraged me, taught me and even awarded me twice. In 2016, they gave me the Most Inspiring Woman award and in 2021, they gave me the Lifetime Member award, the highest award in the organization. For these women, I am grateful.
XBIZ: Has anything changed in your business model post-COVID? How did the pandemic shake up the way you do business?
Pepper: Pivot was the name of the game in the beginning of COVID. We kept our original store in Ellisville open until the state forced us to close non-essential businesses. I forwarded all the phones to my cell and I became a “sex toy telephone sales operator.” James took videos of the merchandise in our store and kept our website fresh. We didn’t know what the end of this would look like, so we weren’t purchasing, just selling. We paid the rent. We kept the lights on and the water running. We paid our one employee who was left standing and put her in our locked store handing out paid orders to our customers as they purchased on the phone with me. She literally put them in our plant pots with a time for customers to retrieve their goodies. We pivoted so much that we were dizzy! But our CPA was blown away by our sales volume with our doors locked. It was really hard work, but we powered through it.
XBIZ: What are you most looking forward to this year in particular within your business plan, travel schedule and such? What will make 2023 special for you?
Pepper: I miss our live events, which we used to do once a month. Some were educational. Some were parties like crawfish boils or Pride parties. At some parties we tied people up and taught them the proper way to do so.
In October of last year we had our first live event since COVID, our annual Pride party, and I’m excited to bring back these monthly events. We’ve learned that karaoke and Kahoots trivia is a big crowd-pleaser, so this type of event paired with other events is what I’m excited to bring back to the store. My team, with Lindsey at the helm, is amazing at entertaining our guests.
My schedule for this year? I’ll be at the store for events, big weekends, and fill in when I need to be there. Otherwise, I’ll work remotely as a buyer, CFO, payroll manager and head cook and bottle washer.
XBIZ: How is retail evolving to meet consumers’ ever-changing needs? What’s really keeping you on your toes about the future of the retail world?
Pepper: I think one of the biggest changes that we’ve seen is shifting away from some toys, plus packaging changes — I think for some southerners it slightly removes some of the stigma.
A huge challenge we face is making sure our “micro boutique” is an asset to both manufacturers and distributors. Our store is a wonderful source of positive information and interactions. We want to work with others to make the best of what we have, develop with the industry and continue to be “educationally entertaining” to our customers.
Each month, XBIZ spotlights the career accomplishments and outstanding contributions of Women in Adult. WIA profiles offer an intimate look at the professional lives of the industry's most influential female executives.
