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"50 Shades of Grey," the bestseller chronicling naive college graduate Ana Steele's submission to dominating billionaire Christian Grey's BDSM lifestyle choices, has sold 765,000 copies in only two months and is currently taking up the top four spots on USA Today's best-Selling books list.
Unsurprisingly, readers have started buying popular items in the book to start emulating the "50 Shades" lifestyle—and not just the the sex toys. Brooks Brothers, for instance, is hoping to sell a few extra gray ties like the one that adorns the book's cover.
And it doesn't hurt that the first-time author E.L. James incorporated real places and products in the novel.
Penguin, publisher of "Between Shades of Gray" by Ruta Sepetys
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Confused readers and bookstores have accidentally ordered the award-winning young adult novel "Between Shades of Gray," about a Lithuanian teen who is sent to one of Stalin's work camps in Siberia, instead of 50.
The book's first line, "They took me in my nightgown," doesn't help the situation either. Author Ruta Sepetys told NPR:
"At a bookstore event in Cambridge, Mass., a man approached me after the public discussion and said, "I must have gotten my dates mixed up, I was here for a different shade of gray ... but hey, did Stalin really kill all of those people?" He may have come for a spanking, but he left with a book about a piece of history that was hidden for more than half a century and he now knows that the Baltics are different than the Balkans. For me, the mix-up is a victory."
Babeland, and other sex toy stores
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Perhaps the most obvious beneficiary of the "50 Shades of Grey" craze is the sex toy industry.
The novel strongly encourages women to use an exotic array of handcuffs, riding crops, floggers, Ben Wa balls ... the list goes on.
Babeland, a New York-based sex shop, told The Post that it has experienced a 30 percent sales increase in the last few months and visits to the bondage portion of the site increased by 81 percent. To accommodate the demand, Babeland created a 50SOG-themed bondage kit, which includes "Spank Me Baby" body powder, restraints, and a riding crop for $169.
The Heathman Hotel in Portland, and other Pacific Northwest inns
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"50 Shades of Grey" takes place in Seattle and has scenes that are set in real hotels in the area.
The Heathman Hotel in Portland offers the "Charlie Tango" package—Charlie Tango being the name of Christian Grey's helicopter, of course—which includes a helicopter ride and group dinner for six for $2,700.
The Edgewater Hotel, which wasn't even in the book, is offering a $759 "50 Shades of Romance" package, inviting "lovers to experience the magic of where it all started." The package includes overnight accommodations in a Premium Waterside guest room along with other goodies found within the book: A bottle of Bollinger Rose Champagne, an Audi rental car, a sailing excursion on Puget Sound, a custom 50SOG landmark map, and a copy of the book for the bedside table (so much for Gideon's Bible).
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
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