“Right around when the AIG bailout started, and people’s consciousnesses were really being raised about what was going to happen, our sales went up 26 percent,” Claire Cavanauh, the owner and co-founder of Toys and Babeland, boasted to us at the store’s benefit for the New Space for Women’s Health last night. The last time sales were up that much, Cavanauh said, was after 9/11. “You can stay home, it’s free!” explained actress Michelle Hurd (Eleanor Waldorf’s assistant, Laurel, from Gossip Girl!). “And it’s warm, especially since here in New York it’s getting so cold.” Speaking of the season, would a vibrator, we wondered, make a good holiday gift? “I actually got my mother the Rabbit last year,” she said. “She was quite shocked and turned red instantly, but probably a month later she very quietly thanked me.” Wow, okay. We excused ourselves and wandered over to Ricki Lake, who was standing near a tower of lube, and asked whether she was having more sex in the down economy. She wasn’t. “I’m single,” she said, but “I can tell you firsthand what my favorite vibrators are. My favorite is the Jimmy Jam. It’s solid gold and it’s waterproof.” Wait, how is a solid-gold vibrator cost-effective? “It’s not,” she laughed. “I did a talk show for eleven years. I busted my ass in a different economy.”
