LAS VEGAS, Sept 3: Forget the Playmates; the hot property at Playboy these days is the bunny.

Revenue is stagnant at its flagship adult magazine, but Playboy Enterprises Inc. Is popping the iconic bunny logo on everything from lipstick to jeans to lingerie as it looks to its legendary brand to boost business.

The success of two Playboy boutique stores, one in Tokyo opened in 2002 and a Las Vegas storefront opened in May, has encouraged the company to plan a small upscale retail chain.

Founder Hugh Hefner started the men’s magazine in his kitchen. The first issue in 1953 offered a calendar picture of Marilyn Monroe in the nude, and the magazine known for its voluptuous centerfolds became a cultural touchstone in the 1960s and 1970s, when Playboy opened a series of clubs representing bachelor glamour.

Clubs closed in the 1980s, but Playboy is about to return to the scene with a four-story venue atop a new tower under construction at the Palms casino, a trendy resort off the Las Vegas Strip.

At a recent visit to the Las Vegas boutique, meanwhile, there was no sign of lagging interest in the iconic brand that conjures up the carefree life.

Moreover, the airy, bright space with plenty of pink — and some fake wood paneling reminiscent of the Playboy Mansion — is no man’s bastion.

Playboy the brand is seeking women shoppers, and a number were browsing bunny martini glasses, golf bags, racks of apparel — and lingerie.

”We as a brand should own the lingerie market,” Lorna Donohoe, vice president of Playboy’s worldwide retail and merchandising division, said on the sidelines of the Magic Marketplace fashion trade show in Las Vegas this week.

Playboy plans to open three stores annually over the next three years and launch a premium lingerie line, she said.

Sales of licensed products doubled in the region in the year after Playboy opened its Tokyo boutique.

In 2004, global retail sales of Playboy-licensed products grew to about 500 million dollars. Playboy, which gets only a portion of licensing sales, posted licensing revenue of 20 million dollars, compared with publishing revenue of 120 million dollars and 189 million dollars from the television-dominated entertainment unit.

In August, the company posted a better-than-expected second quarter profit, helped by growth from its licensing and entertainment businesses.

Pointing to vintage magazine covers and a pair of Hef’s slippers for sale in a glass case on the wall of the Las Vegas store, Playboy Creative Director of Licensing Aaron Duncan added that designers drew on Playboy’s history when building the stores.

”It is tapping into the emotional part of the brand so people can get a piece of the Playboy lifestyle,” said Duncan. He saw infinite possibilities for the brand in fashion, fragrances, home furnishings — everything but baby clothes.

Shoppers looking for something a little more decadent can snap up an authentic Playboy bunny costume for 30,000 dollars or slip into a pair of slippers worn by Hefner for a price of 5,000 dollars.

”We are trying to make the stores a destination where people can interact with the brand,” Donohoe said. - Source: