Honey Gifts

Run into Karyee Y at a dinner party and ask what she does for a living, and you might get a slightly evasive answer. Under those circumstances, her tact is understandable. Karyee is the owner of Honey Gifts, a store that has, for more than 10 years, provided women and couples access to high-end adult items in an upscale, boutique environment.

The store sells a wide variety of intimate items — everything from lingerie to lubricants to vibrators to books to an entire line of Fifty Shades of Gray merchandise for the BDSM-curious. Launched on Cambie Street back in 2001 as a co-venture with her sister Cindy, Honey has since expanded to include two additional locations — one in Gastown and the other in Brooklyn, New York.

“I'd like to provide a really comfortable space for people to shop for intimate items,” Karyee explains. “People can sometimes be a bit intimidated when they walk in, but by the time they make it to the counter, they're going, 'It's really nice in here! It's so comfortable!' And we hear that pretty often, so I feel like we're on the right track.”