Photography by Jessica Turner
Sex sells. Even as a young woman fresh out of high school, Daijah Poteat knew that.
Since then she has learned much about human sexuality, business and life. Every day is a new lesson, and there is still so much to discover. That fundamental knowledge has shaped her as an entrepreneur and a purveyor of adult novelties at her Bishop Arts District boutique, Bad Baby’s.
It is a boutique for grown ups. Glowing digital signage advertising toys and hookah pipes lights up a patch of West Davis sidewalk where window shoppers can glimpse neat rows of rose-shaped vibrators and lacy lingerie.
Poteat greets everyone who comes through the door with a warm smile and does her best to make them feel comfortable. Bad Baby’s is a far cry from the sex shops of yore, she says, where pleasure-seeking shoppers, especially women, might feel awkward or unsafe. The 25-year-old has been into those places with friends at a bachelorette party, she says, and her store is different.
“I wanted the right environment. One that puts people at ease,” she says.
Shortly after she finished high school in Richardson ISD, Poteat was injured in a car accident with a drunken driver. The recovery was painful and stalled plans to continue her education. She decided to make the most of funds from a related insurance settlement to start her own business.
She followed trails blazed by her mother, who owned a cleaning business, and her grandmother, who owned Ragwear, a Dallas retro-wear staple throughout the 1990s.
As a teen she worked with her mom, soaking up wisdom and ambition. She was 23 when she decided to strike out on her own.
“I wanted something that fits me, something I could make mine,” she says.
Poteat’s plan to launch an “LGBTQ-friendly” and “judgment-free” adult novelty shop began with the right location.
Pleasure-toy patrons of the past often were relegated to seedier parts of town where atmospheres failed to discourage behaviors such as leering or intimidating female clientele, she says, so she sought a safe high-traffic retail district.
“I looked for areas that maybe did not have a sex shop, or at least not in the way I envisioned it,” she says.
When she couldn’t secure a spot in Deep Ellum, she came to Oak Cliff.
At the time, the four suites of 428 W. Davis were mostly empty. Today they’re all occupied by women-owned businesses.
She says no one complained about Bad Baby’s when the first sign, “BDSM, toys, lingerie for all” went up in the window. It was the height of the coronavirus by then, so it is possible that local merchants and neighbors were focused on more pressing matters, Poteat says. But her sex-themed shop did not deter more business owners from leasing in the ensuing months. And her neighbors say they like her.
“I don’t shop there, but I see Daijah in the hallway between our shops, and she is so sweet and a great neighbor,” says Nataly Medina, owner of Crecer Dallas, a salon and plant shop in the same building.
Even as Bishop Arts welcomed Poteat and Bad Baby’s, the credit-card processing company she was using for online transactions dropped her six months into operations, which was a blow.
“They sent me an email that said this was a high-risk activity, that the decision was final,” she says. “I had built my whole website around that company, so I had to shut down for three months while I rebuilt. I lost the entire summer of 2021.”
Now she subscribes to a reliable point-of-sale company called Lightspeed Retail, and she is back up and running.
Online ordering is available, but for an educated guide, one should visit in person, she says. From the latest technology (like panties with a vibrating crotch, remotely controlled) to classic bondage gear (padded handcuffs, faux leather whips) and party supplies (grown-up board games, massage oils and CBD “mood enhancers”), Poteat researches every item and stocks only the most popular, high-quality and safest wares.
“I am always learning new things,” she says. “When I am selling a product, I am going to know how to tell my customers about it.”
