My partner and I were made aware of this place when we hit up the vendor booths during Austin Kink Weekend in April. Package Menswear had a table set up with a small selection of garments and items representative of their in-store stock, which we browsed while chatting up the two employees. They were pleasant enough to interact with (and rocking some of their own shop's attire) and encouraged us to come out to their physical location sometime.
Since pride month is fast approaching, last night we did just that. We found the place pretty easily and parked in the back. Not tons of spots, but it wasn't super busy even on a Saturday evening. My husband HAD to park in the "SLUT PARKING ONLY" spot; he thought it was so damn hilarious.
Anyway, we walked around to the entrance facing the street and were greeted by the two employees there (one we recognized from the kink event), who asked what we were looking for or if we were browsing. We had specifically come for a collar (I'd called ahead just to be sure they carried pup play items since it was a bit of a drive up from our residence in Buda), and they directed us to their selection, then told us to feel free to let them know if we needed any further assistance or had questions. We thanked him.
I will say that he came back to check on us a couple of times and start yakking at us about this or that item he was curious about trying and stuff. I get it, he was trying to help sell stuff, but I kind of wanted him to leave us alone to shop, I wasn't really interested in "socializing" with horny employees, LOL. Thankfully once a few additional customers entered the store and we weren't the only ones in there, the employee turned his attention to assisting them and gave us some space. Just pointing it out: couples might like privacy.
They did have a pretty interesting selection. It's not just your run-of-the-mill, find-it-alongside-the-highway sex shop. There is a heavy bias toward gay male clientele (which is unsurprising, considering the name of the establishment) in the attire department. You'll find lots of great sexy underwear (and many familiar desirable brands), swimwear, shirts/tops, etc. But there's also plenty of kinky toys/accessories/dildos/etc. toward the back. We had fun browsing it all before making a purchase selection (we stick to a monthly budget, which, believe it or not, is sort of sexy) and flagging some things "for later" when we inevitably come back. ;)
The staff are a bit anal (forgive the pun) about trying things on. They made us put on gloves just to remove a harness from its box to get a better look at it, and once my husband tried on a shirt, they said they had to steam it before returning it to the rack. On one hand, it was a bit annoying, on the other I admire their commitment to keeping things clean. If you are going to shop, just be aware you'll have to follow their procedures.
Before we head out, we asked to use the restroom, which was behind the checkout counter. They had zero toilet paper. They hadn't "run out"; there weren't empty cardboard tubes... they just clearly never bothered to even stock TP. Again, their typical customer is gonna be gay men who "shake off," but I felt compelled to inform them that transmen may need to wipe so they should PROBABLY have TP. The employee blamed some other employee that conveniently wasn't present, rather than owning up to it, which was pretty lame. C'mon guys.
So yeah, 5-stars for having a great selection of product, but minus a star for the employees being a little clueless about proper customer service for ALL varieties of customer (couples/trans/etc). read more