Customers are finding a diversion and solace in sex toys. A corset at Dascha in Washington and pearl nipple tassels at Myla in New York.

By RUTH LA FERLA


Lately, Karen Weller has been avoiding Starbucks double lattes and expensive restaurants. But she could not resist stopping in at Dascha Boudoir Boutique in Washington, to purchase the We- Vibe, a compact vibrator, all slippery surfaces and C-shaped curves.

Was it the plaything’s novel design and leopard-spot packaging or the shop’s friendly service that induced her to part with $145 - and the last remnants of fiscal restraint? Ms.Weller could not say, offering simply that the vibrator“just seemed an indulgence worth the price.

Point-and-shoot cameras, CDs and fancy woven handbags may languish on store shelves.

But women like Ms.Weller, a nurse from Frederick, Maryland, are willing to splurge, spending as much as $100 or more for a pulsing bath sponge or vibrating bullet. Their fascination with such battery-operated novelties is rendering luxury sex toys a thriving sector in an otherwise sluggish economy.

“The Dow may have taken a nose dive, but our sales have only increased,”said Josie Morales, a partner in Their Toys, a nine-month-old Web site with offices near Palm Beach, Florida. Sales, Ms. Morales said, have increased steadily, by about 10 percent a month, since the site was introduced.

“The last time we saw a spike in our business was after 9/11,”said Claire Cavanah, a founder of Babeland, a Web site and store in New York that sells erotic paraphernalia. Since last year, sales of gadgets priced at $80 or more have risen by 50 percent, Ms.Cavanah said.“People are looking for stress relief and a little connection.

Even in a lingering recession,“sex will always sell, said Analena Graham, an owner of Dascha, where cone-shaped vibrators and jewel-tone fur ticklers are showcased alongside made-to-order corsets and aromatic oils.“You might tell yourself,‘I can do without that $400 sweater,’ Ms.Graham went on,“‘but I would still like to have that rechargeable vibrator.’”

Also popular are pulsing cigars that turn into pendants, and pearl wrist restraints that double as necklaces. People are paying as much as $250 for similarly kinky designs, said Robyn Goodman, chief of American operations for Myla, a British-owned boutique chain and Web site.

“They don’t feel like they’re getting a bit of smut, Ms.Goodman said.“They feel like they are acquiring a very boudoir- style, high-end luxury.

Dr.Judy Kuriansky, a sex therapist, suggested that a heightened interest in sensually appealing devices is partly an outgrowth of a troubled economy. When money is tight, some people withdraw from sex, she said, but many others“will do anything to increase the level of closeness and pleasure.