Mascott for a diaper store?

[MegaChar]

Someday I may pursue attempting to open up a walk in diaper store where you can buy the high performance diapers on the market without the need to order online.

I have a really cool mascott for this start up diaper company but my wondering is what would others think if there was a mascott for such a company. As far as im aware of, no other high diaper company who sells adult diapers has them.

Your thoughts?

[rusty pins]

A mascot could be a tricky thing if not done just right.  If it was an AB/DL only store a mascot of some type of fuzzy bear or other cartoonish animal wearing a diaper might be appropriate since you are catering only to AB/DL's.  On the other hand, if your goal is to open a brick and mortar store to cater to both AB/DL and incontinent people where they can just walk in and get high performance diapers like Abena, Northshore, Betterdry and others, some people may find it offensive to have a cute cartoonish mascot figure wearing a diaper, like you might see for actual baby diapers.  There is still much stigma among people who have to wear diapers that they are humiliating and make them feel like they are a baby in both their own minds and their perception of how others may view them.

We here may be AB or DL but I wager that many people who are incontinent deal with it differently and don't look at their need to wear protective undergarments the same way we look at wearing our diapers.  You could offend a good part of a potential customer base if you choose a "mascot" that makes adult briefs and diapers look like they are for babies.  Even here on this site we have a DailyDiapers logo.  This site caters to both AB's and DL's and while Mikey could have a logo that shows a cartoon character wearing an AB printed diaper, instead he has a very tasteful logo that doesn't scream "Adult Baby".

Your aim to open a store is admirable, but please do a lot of research first.  Make sure wherever you plan to open one there is a sustainable market for one.  It's a specialty type of store that won't apply to the majority of the people walking down the street who might go in to browse.  You first have to have a large percentage of people in that area who need to wear diapers, then you have to take into account those who are very uncomfortable walking into a store to buy their diapers in person, especially when a few clicks on their computer they can have them delivered right to their front doorstep, no embarrassment.  Unfortunately, and I personally don't like the trend, malls and brick and mortar stores are closing up left and right because people shop for everything via the internet, even their groceries.  Adult diapers are a very specialized product to begin with and I'd hate to see someone sink a lot of money into that kind of local business only to fail for lack of customers, and those willing to come in and shop for diapers in person.   

[Little Sherri]

To @rusty pins' point, Rearz opened up their InControl brand precisely because of the stigma that can get attached to babyish or ABDL-tilted designs. The InControl stuff is mostly white and "medical" looking, whereas Rearz offers all kinds of prints. I think they probably have one of the better resale models; they used to have a storefront, but when they moved to their new, larger location, they weren't zoned as a store anymore. They can have customers into the place, and make sales, but it's not "retail", strictly speaking. They recognized that they were going to be making most of their sales online, but, they also retained the ability to host events and special sales on site.

The issue with being strictly a walk-in establishment is that there might not be enough people interested in that type of store who can reasonably be expected to personally shop there, to support the business. Retail is as much a real estate game as it is about the product offerings - many of the bigger chains try to have a store within X minutes of most of the population in a state or region or country. We have a hardware chain here (Canada), for example, that claims to have a store within 15 minutes of 85% of the population of the country. But almost everybody needs hardware... not so many people need disposable underpants. So in order to have a customer base big enough to cover your bills, you'd likely need to be able to sell online, as people aren't going to drive 100 miles to buy diapers very often, when they can get them shipped to their doors at no charge. So it might be worth driving for an hour to figure out which size diaper fits you best, or to shop for baby clothes, but then after that you might mostly be selling to that guy via UPS, until you have your big sale on Black Friday or whatever, and he or she is incentivized to make the trip back in. 

[ValentinesStuff]

Make sure the local city/county whatever is OK with your store/ My Inner Baby is currently fighting with the city over them being declared a "sex" shop.

[Little Sherri]

15 hours ago, ValentinesStuff said:

My Inner Baby is currently fighting with the city over them being declared a "sex" shop.

That's where the strategic placement of a couple of "home healthcare" props could really be useful. If you had a corner dedicated to white medical diapers, plus wipes and topical sprays and creams, maybe an adult diaper pail system, a couple of grab handles, one dusty shower chair you never intend to sell, and voila, you're a health store. 

[ValentinesStuff]

5 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

That's where the strategic placement of a couple of "home healthcare" props could really be useful. If you had a corner dedicated to white medical diapers, plus wipes and topical sprays and creams, maybe an adult diaper pail system, a couple of grab handles, one dusty shower chair you never intend to sell, and voila, you're a health store. 

I've been in the store. They have plenty of medical diapers, and not one sex toy.

[MegaChar]

On 8/29/2022 at 5:45 AM, rusty pins said:

A mascot could be a tricky thing if not done just right.  If it was an AB/DL only store a mascot of some type of fuzzy bear or other cartoonish animal wearing a diaper might be appropriate since you are catering only to AB/DL's.  On the other hand, if your goal is to open a brick and mortar store to cater to both AB/DL and incontinent people where they can just walk in and get high performance diapers like Abena, Northshore, Betterdry and others, some people may find it offensive to have a cute cartoonish mascot figure wearing a diaper, like you might see for actual baby diapers.  There is still much stigma among people who have to wear diapers that they are humiliating and make them feel like they are a baby in both their own minds and their perception of how others may view them.

We here may be AB or DL but I wager that many people who are incontinent deal with it differently and don't look at their need to wear protective undergarments the same way we look at wearing our diapers.  You could offend a good part of a potential customer base if you choose a "mascot" that makes adult briefs and diapers look like they are for babies.  Even here on this site we have a DailyDiapers logo.  This site caters to both AB's and DL's and while Mikey could have a logo that shows a cartoon character wearing an AB printed diaper, instead he has a very tasteful logo that doesn't scream "Adult Baby".

Your aim to open a store is admirable, but please do a lot of research first.  Make sure wherever you plan to open one there is a sustainable market for one.  It's a specialty type of store that won't apply to the majority of the people walking down the street who might go in to browse.  You first have to have a large percentage of people in that area who need to wear diapers, then you have to take into account those who are very uncomfortable walking into a store to buy their diapers in person, especially when a few clicks on their computer they can have them delivered right to their front doorstep, no embarrassment.  Unfortunately, and I personally don't like the trend, malls and brick and mortar stores are closing up left and right because people shop for everything via the internet, even their groceries.  Adult diapers are a very specialized product to begin with and I'd hate to see someone sink a lot of money into that kind of local business only to fail for lack of customers, and those willing to come in and shop for diapers in person.   

The mascott was designed for vanilla general public from someone who has designed mascotts for other companies for many years(no diapers, this matter was first discussed). I still need to get a buissness plan together and funding but im ready to go.

It will be a start up brick and mortar store thats opening in a area thats pretty much a retirement city. I see more older people here then anything and the area would see ALOT of foot traffic.

The company would market the abdl diapers in the same group as abena and megamax. Only difference is they have designs. The store would also be the only diaper store where you can buy one month supplies of adult diapers.

It would be a store that offers what the other big box stores dont offer and if it goes well: moves to home delivery service.

21 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

That's where the strategic placement of a couple of "home healthcare" props could really be useful. If you had a corner dedicated to white medical diapers, plus wipes and topical sprays and creams, maybe an adult diaper pail system, a couple of grab handles, one dusty shower chair you never intend to sell, and voila, you're a health store. 

The issue with them which i think was the trigger was the name of the buissness. Mine will have almost no references of abdls other then the diapers.

[MegaChar]

On 8/29/2022 at 5:42 PM, ValentinesStuff said:

Make sure the local city/county whatever is OK with your store/ My Inner Baby is currently fighting with the city over them being declared a "sex" shop.

The city allows "sex" shops surprisingly dispite it being fiercely a right leaning town. They have 3 of them in operation thats been around since the 70s. If they try to pull that, the company has that allowed rule to fall back on.

[Firefly 35]

What about Cupid as a mascot?

[Little_Mouse]

The Scandinavian ABDL webshop Dalille has a small elephant as its logo/mascot

I think it's very cute ?