Sex doll 'escort' service set to open in Kamloops

Controversial 'escort' service coming to Kamloops A unique business is set to open in Kamloops: Clients can rent a sex doll for the night with the service that includes home delivery and pickup.

A B.C. entrepreneur has obtained a business licence for a new escort service in Kamloops – but her escorts aren't human.

Kristen Dickson will soon open House of Dolls, a brothel of sorts, but with realistic dolls instead of traditional employees. And instead of renting a room, clients will be able to take their dates home.

When CTV News sat down with Dickson, the owner was joined by Portia and Chanel. Just out of their boxes, the 5'7", 90-pound blonde and brunette will join half a dozen other dolls in the legal business venture.

The silicone sex dolls will be available for hire for $350 a night. Dickson says they're real looking, and with soft skin she describes as "squishy just like a person."

Most are female, but she also has a 5'2" male doll named Zach.

They can be booked online, and are then delivered and picked up the following day. After pickup, each doll undergoes a rigorous two-hour cleaning with anti-microbial soap.

"We scrub the whole doll down from head to toe," Dickson said.

She said she wanted to open a brothel, but also wanted to keep it above board with insurance and a licence.

"This was the only way that it could potentially happen and be legal," she said.

It's a controversial idea, with critics saying it encourages clients to treat women as objects.

Earlier this fall, a sex doll brothel was advertised in Vancouver – a facility that is now up and running. Bella Dolls offers 30-minute sessions for $90, one-hour sessions for $120 and two hours with a mannequin for $240.

"At the end of the day, men can look at women as things without feelings that can be used and reused however they please," Vancouver Rape Relief's Maria Paredes said at the time.

Dickson's aware that not everyone will understand her business, but she said the response so far has been overwhelmingly positive. She admitted that at first she felt shy about buying the members of her team.

"The more that I sit and look at them, and kind of get used to the idea, the more intriguing, the more amazing it is," she said.

"I just think to each their own. And don't knock it until you try it."

Dickson hopes to launch officially next week, and thinks the majority of her clients will be people travelling for business and those who are curious about trying it.

"No matter where you are, sex sells. It's a human need," she said.

With a report from CTV Vancouver's St. John Alexander