Products, some freestanding, others in bottles or boxes, stand on glass shelves or hang on the white paneled wall. Tucked into one corner is a clean, well-lit dressing room with a large mirror, size charts and another bright-pink paint job.
Yet Allure Lingerie, though it carries "novelty goods" or "romance items" (choose your own euphemism), comes off as somewhat classier than that big-name lingerie chain.
In the windows of this small store, models don’t jut their hipbones at you or pose provocatively, tempting male shoppers to stumble, stop and stare. Allure’s display is simple — a few pieces of lingerie below the shop’s pink-and-black sign and logo.
Lassiter, the store’s 36 -year-old owner, plays on puns and isn’t afraid to be a little risqué. Her business cards (also pink, of course) boast that Allure has "Everything She Wants." That includes books such as "Great Sex for Moms," body wash, candles, oils and gels, soft handcuffs, sashes and eye masks.
Lassiter shows these products in a setting that’s pure boutique. It doesn’t feel seedy to be looking at fishnet body stockings or feather boas.
"One thing that I really want to do is take the taboo out of shopping in a lingerie store that carries novelty products," she says, "because these same products you can find in other national chain stores every day that children are allowed into, and nobody says anything about that."
Lassiter hoped to open between Burlington Square Mall and the new shopping center at University Drive and Interstates 40 and 85. But property owners along that corridor didn’t have much appetite for a business that sells edible panties.
Lassiter, a Mebane resident who wants to tap into Alamance County’s growing bedroom communities, found space in a small center on Chapel Hill Road, instead. Tucked behind the Burlington Manufacturer’s Outlet Center (where adult-industry giant Adam & Eve has a store), Allure might have found the perfect neighbors — a tanning salon and a women’s gym.
As sex has gained prominence in conversation and pop culture in recent decades, businesses have found a niche serving people who want to spice things up. Local shoppers can visit storefronts such as Priscilla’s and Adam & Eve, and women host parties where something a bit more stimulating than Tupperware is on display.
Allure’s business plan takes aim at middle-class, educated women ages 30 to 55. The store carries as much plus-size lingerie as it does traditional sizes. Unlike some similar shops, Lassiter’s does not offer adult films, which she says tend to attract mostly men and can make women uncomfortable.
"I’m trying to appeal to not only the professionals," she says, "but the stay-at-home moms, just the average woman who wants a nice, safe place to go and shop."
Lassiter plans to launch a reminder service this summer to help men shop more easily for the women in their lives. Allure will keep a database of birthdays, anniversaries and other key dates — plus women’s sizes and product preferences.
Also starting this summer, Lassiter hopes to start hosting bridal showers, gadget and lingerie parties in the store for women who want a private shopping experience with their friends.
"That’s really what we’re trying to do, is just take the stigma out of this and have it be in people’s minds that it’s no different from any other store in Burlington," she says.
Allure Lingerie, which celebrated its grand opening last week, is at 2044 Chapel Hill Road in Burlington. Store hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Prices range from less than $10 up to $175.
The store, on the mall’s second level near JCPenney, will donate 10 percent of the price of every loose diamond sold in May to the Piedmont Triad Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
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