When a customer walks into the entrance of Intimate Ideas, they are greeted by shelves full of adult movies and likely notice a mannequin fitted in red lingerie, or the $3,000 Ultimate Fantasy Sex Doll.

Adult novelty stores are located throughout the state of Michigan, usually in out-of-the-way locations on the edge of town. Many people drive by them, curious about what is inside, but lack the interest or courage to stop and venture into the building.

Intimate Ideas, located at 5275 E Pickard Road, carries common adult products: condoms, lubricants and lingerie. The store also has a variety of sex toys, DVDs, magazines and Bondage, Discipline, Sadism and Masochism (BDSM) products, which have become the shop's best-selling products since the release of "Fifty Shades of Grey."

The business also doubles as a smoke shop, and does a lot of business selling gag gifts and products for bachelorette parties.

Isaac Ritchey

A sign at 5275 E Pickard Road greets customers to Intimate Ideas Feb. 7.

Although Intimate Ideas has been in Mount Pleasant for more than 20 years, misconceptions about the store's employees and customers create a stigma about the business people, like Intimate Ideas Vice President Charles Beach, feel are unfair.

“If you look at the statistics, wherever there are sex shops— and it's not just my company— sex crimes are at their lowest," Beach said. "I would not trade my experiences in the industry in for the world."

Adult products promote sexual health, said Beach, who has worked with Intimate Ideas for 10 years. He notices “multilevel benefits to the industry” with few negative secondary effects. During the last five years, Beach said he has noticed the stigma surrounding adult businesses decreasing, yet he still feels he must address misconceptions about sex shops and their products.

"The biggest misconception is that a certain type (of person) goes to these stores," said Beach, explaining that his clientele are most likely your neighbors not the stereotype of "dirty, middle-aged men" looking for cheap thrills.

Company-wide, the average Intimate Ideas customer is a married couple. Those spouses tend to be in their 40s, or older. Manager Thea Chippewa said the Mount Pleasant location even gets couples in their 70s and 80s.

“We get people in all the time, saying, ‘Oh, I (feel) kind of awkward coming in here and talking about sex and my interests,’” Chippewa said. “We tell them it is totally fine... everyone has sex.”

Both Chippewa and employee Brittany VanHorn said they have received very few negative remarks after telling people where they are employed. However, VanHorn said her grandma “hates (her job at Intimate Ideas) so much.”

The job is “like any other retail job,” Chippewa said. Her role is based on customer service - helping customers find products that suit their needs and desires. The employees also deal with things known to everyone who has ever worked in retail, like rude customers and theft.

Although many products in the shop are available online, many customers prefer to see products in person. Chippewa said people should enter the shop with a level of vulnerability, so they can ask the right questions and make sure they are choosing the best products for their needs.

VanHorn said customers come in to ask questions and get more knowledge of products, because it can be hard to find those answers on websites. VanHorn often tells some of her regular customers adult videos are free online, but she said "(older men) like keeping it old school."

VanHorn said her favorite thing about her job is seeing what people are into. Everyone, she has noticed, is into something unique.

But she concedes, not everyone is in the market for a $3,000 sex doll.