Sex shop owner had to take cash to the tax office because of banks’ prejudices

Sari Ruskeeniemi, who has run a brick-and-mortar sex shop, Unisex, for the past two years, has found out the hard way how deep the prejudices about her industry are.

We reported last year on her difficulty opening a bank account for her business.

“I called all the banks in Finland, some of them several times. Some banks said that my business’s area of operations was not good enough,” Ruskeeniemi told Yrittajat.fi in July 2024.

The banks’ negative attitude has caused the business owner significant difficulty. For one thing, she was forced to pay her company’s VAT bills in cash at a tax office. Ruskeeniemi also paid herself salary in cash. She sometimes felt like a second-class citizen.

Last January her luck finally changed, when her new accountant’s connections allowed her to open an account with a Finnish bank.

“That was the result of trying for one and a half years. During that time, I realized that we still have a lot of prejudices about the erotica industry in this country. People link it to the grey economy, human trafficking and everything else that’s forbidden.”

Acquisition in Helsinki

Ruskeeniemi recently decided to expand her business by buying the established Keltainen Ruusu sex shop in Kamppi, Helsinki. The shop has operated in the same location for almost 30 years. In recent years, the number of shops in the sector has declined rapidly. There are now fewer than five brick-and-mortar erotica businesses operating in Helsinki.

“The previous owner, who was retiring, contacted me to say the business was for sale. I knew right away that I wanted to buy, but I immediately wondered if it was possible. I only had two years of business ownership behind me,” Ruskeeniemi says.

She found a group of investors to support her who shared her belief in the business’s possibilities in Helsinki.

“They were as open-minded as I am. We concluded that buying a long-established erotica business was sensible. Helsinki also has more possibilities for developing the business,” says Ruskeeniemi, who now works two days a week in the capital.

“At the moment, the online shop serves more like a catalogue. A customer goes online to see that we sell something and then comes into our shop to check it out in more detail,” Sari Ruskeeniemi says.

More light and air

In her shop in Tampere, Ruskeeniemi has from the start of her business career tried to create a couple-friendly culture. At the same time, she has tried to modernize the shop to make it easier for customers to come in the door. She intends to the same in Helsinki.

“There are still taboos to be overturned and at the same time I have to lower customers’ threshold for entering a sex shop. It isn’t forbidden or dirty.

“I want to run a brighter shop without the mustiness of yesteryear. Maybe that will bring in a new kind of customer.”

As part of this change, Ruskeeniemi is bringing Finnish products into the shop, which it does currently not stock a great deal of. In Tampere she sells Finnish manufacturers’ leather products, candles and jewellery.

No profit from toys

Erotica businesses are more than sex-toy shops. Ruskeeniemi has online shops for both the Tampere and Helsinki locations, but she is at least for the moment unable to compete with large online erotic goods retailers.

“The strength of a brick-and-mortar shop is in the experience. Customers want events and new experiences. At the moment, the online shop serves more like a catalogue. A customer goes online to see that we sell something and then comes into our shop to check it out in more detail. Few customers leave empty-handed.”

In her Tampere shop, Ruskeeniemi has a room showing erotic films and where a range of events is held. The shop also has a separate room which can be hired by the hour. In her Helsinki shop, she plans to run themed couple nights. Keltainen Ruusu is large, running to 400 square metres.

“At some events, people can have sex, but that’s not the be-all and end-all. It’s more about meeting like-minded people in a safe environment. For me, the best reward is seeing a couple find a new spark.”

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