Reno Has Two Great Sex Positive Stores

Even though Nevada is famous for gambling and legalized prostitution (outside the city limits of Reno, Las Vegas, and Carson City) many of the “locals” never go inside one of the many sex stores in town. I used to live outside of Reno, and almost every trip to town included a stop at both Fantasy Faire and Romantic Sensations.

What the two shops have in common is they are bright, airy, and sex friendly. But that’s about where the similarity between the two stores ends.

Fantasy Faire, owned by Terri Moser and her husband, has been a staple on the Reno sex scene for many years. The atmosphere is relaxed and Terri, her husband, and the staff get to know you very shortly. It is a family business. When you get to be a regular, they even point out new merchandise that they know will interest you.

Their major focus is lingerie. They have everything from thongs to bras to baby dolls to nighties. I still have the tap pants outfit and the nightie with the push-up bra built in that I got there. This is not to say they don’t have any toys. They do have a selection, but nothing outlandishly outrageous. What was wonderful, they have a line of lingerie that is for us big mamas. Fantasy Faire was where I was able to get the garter belt and mesh stockings my sub really got turned on by.

But it was in the basement that I really got turned on. Though there weren’t many fetish toys, there was leather. I also still have the leather bra I bought in there. Now, when you can find ready-made leather to fit my specific body proportions, you are really doing good. The only other place that even came close to fitting me was Stormy Leather. This is also where I learned about paint-on latex, where I purchased the wrist band for my sub, and saw that awesome swing that can hold in excess of 700 pounds. That’s a lot of bodies that will fit into that sex swing.

Romantic Sensations is for the fetishist like a candy store for a diabetic. They cater to the BDSM crowd, the cross dressers, and little old ladies who can’t find corsets anywhere else. Romantic Sensations has probably the largest selection of fetish gear anywhere in the state. They had a large selection of restraints, gags, hoods, and collars. When I was last in the store, they even had some of the more extreme gear: 7-inch heels, pony hooves, posture collars. Their chastity belts were designed specifically for the wearer by the storeowner and required personalized fittings. There was even a colonial-style stocks. I have heard that the dominatrix at Mustang Ranch (the brothel closed in 1999) used to shop there.

The fetish gear was on one side of the store and clothing on the other. Since the shop catered also to cross dressers, it was possible for someone like me to find larger sizes. I drooled for months over a pair of thigh-high leather boots that would fit me. And all fittings were personalized. Of course, you could buy clothing off the shelf, but if you wanted a really good fit, the clothes could be tailored to you. Even “little old ladies” who wanted a corset, for either health reasons or because they grew up wearing them, went into Romantic Sensations. On one trip, a family had brought grandma into the shop for a corset after she had surgery and required the support of a corset.

So, if you are ever in Reno, be sure to stop at either or both of my favorite toy stores. They are both on S. Virginia Street within a few blocks of each other just south of the Downtown Reno area.