Ann Summers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | |
| Company type | Private Ltd |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1970, London |
| Founder | Michael Caborn-Waterfield |
| Headquarters | Whyteleafe, Surrey, UK |
Number of locations | 80 high street stores |
Area served | United Kingdom Ireland Channel Islands |
Key people | Maria Hollins (CEO)[1] Vanessa Gold (Chair) |
| Products | Clothing Sex toys |
| Revenue | £109.96 million (2018)[2] |
| Website | www |
Ann Summers is a British multinational retailer company specialising in sex toys and lingerie, with 80 high street stores in the UK, Ireland, and the Channel Islands.[3] In 2000, Ann Summers acquired the Knickerbox brand,[4] a label with an emphasis on more comfortable and feminine underwear, while the Ann Summers-labelled products tend to be more erotic in style. The chain had an annual turnover of £117.3 million in 2007–2008.
Retail
The company was named after Annice Summers, the secretary of the founder, Michael Caborn-Waterfield. She was born Annice Goodwin in 1941, but later took her stepfather's surname. She left the company soon after it opened, following a row with Caborn-Waterfield. She moved to Umbria, Italy, where she died of cancer in October 2012.[5]
In 2000, Ann Summers acquired the underwear brand Knickerbox for an undisclosed sum. However, in 2014 they announced plans to sell the brand.[6]
The first Ann Summers shop was opened in 1970 in Marble Arch, London, from which it grew to six shops.
Ann Summers was purchased in 1971 by brothers Ralph and David Gold,[7] who turned it from a standard sex shop into an established high street brand and lingerie boutique. In 1981, David Gold installed his daughter Jacqueline Gold (who was the Executive Chair of Ann Summers)[8] and she introduced the Party Plan concept. The retail operations for all of Ann Summers' shops are managed from their Head Office in Whyteleafe, Surrey and, as of December 2010, Ann Summers operated 144 retail outlets across the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands and Spain.
The shops offer lingerie, underwear, cosmetics, swimwear and sex toys. The stores sell two million Rampant Rabbits, a kind of vibrator developed by Jacqueline Gold,[9] per year.[10]
Ann Summers parties
Jacqueline Gold initiated the Party Plan concept in 1981.[10] The Ann Summers parties were conceived as a means of circumventing regulations restricting the display of sex toys as well as a marketing tactic. Their popularity quickly grew and Ann Summers once had over 7,500 Party Organisers working for Party Plan,[11] coordinated from the Head Office in Surrey. There were around 4,000 Ann Summers parties every week in the UK in 2003.[12]
The Ann Summers parties included the presentation of sex toys and lingerie in the informal setting of someone's home, usually the home of one of the attendees. It also involved the perusal of a catalogue, and often there were party games.
The Party Plan concept ended in October 2025.
