Mum opens sex-shop for over-50s who find standard toys ‘too powerful’

A 61-year-old has set up a sex shop specifically catering to people aged 50 and older in a bid to improve their sexual wellness.

Suzanne Noble established the online store, Sunset Satisfaction, for people who might find standard sex toys “too powerful”.

The mum-of-two has devoted her recent years to creating greater awareness of sex amongst seniors alongside her partner, Peter Marriott, with whom she hosts a sex podcast, called Sex Advice for Seniors.

Noble, who lives in London, also runs a TikTok account with almost 50,000 followers, on which she and her partner discuss issues affecting older people’s sexuality.

“As a result of that, we knew there were a lot of people in their fifties and sixties really struggling with their sex life, and with experiencing pleasure, because they were leaving lots of comments,” she said.

“So we decided we would do something about that and open a shop for older people”.

She said that the aim was to try and “keep it simple” and “not overwhelm” people with lots of products.

“A lot of sex shops have so much stuff people don’t really know where to start. I know that was my own experience when I first started to get into sex toys. I was just overwhelmed by all the stuff that was out there, some of which were really too powerful,” she said.

“We’ve got lots of books as well – a lot of books that I’ve read and would recommend because they’re really helpful when you’re trying to understand how to experience pleasure later in life.

“We’ve got books about understanding your sex life and about your sex life after grieving.”

After launching less than a month ago, the British-American said that the feedback has been largely positive.

“I’ve had a lot of really reassuring comments, from women especially, who have said thank you for being bold enough to talk about these topics and be honest about this.

“But I’ve also had quite a few derogatory comments, mainly from men just being generally horrible. I’ve had some supportive comments from men too, though,” she added.

Feedback from older people has also indicated to Noble that there is insufficient information about sex for older people.

She said: “There is a lot of stigma, but also there are a lot of significant issues that do arise, especially for women, as you get older, and you don’t know where to go and talk about it.

“It seems to have struck a chord with people. There’s just not enough people talking about these issues and sex at older ages.”