Since 2000, carpenter and cabinetmaker Ronni Tartlet has designed and built the iconic window displays in Babeland on East Pike Street. The sex-toy dioramas featured seasonal themes with dildos sledding, sprouting like flowers, and even protesting the Iraq war. No more—Tartlet and her window-dressing partner Joaquin Uy were told last week that their services were no longer required. "August will be our last month," Tartlet said. "My impression from that brief conversation is that high-up Babeland management has decided that our window displays do not fit their new, rebranded aesthetic profile. We're more cardboard and glitter and they seem to be going more preprinted posters and uniformity throughout the stores."

Babeland, formerly Toys in Babeland, has four stores—two in New York, one in Los Angeles, and its original Seattle location. "We want our displays to be the same company wide and tie them into our new ads," said store manager Hollis Rendleman, pulling out a copy of Bust magazine with the new modish advertising campaign, a series of multiple-choice boxes with the options: tomboy, femme, butch, and dyke. Rendleman—favorite display: "Make Love, Not War" with protesting dildos—said the decision was driven by branding: "When we started in 1993, we were one of the only women-owned, women-friendly sex-toy stores. Now there are many more, which is great, but we want people to remember Babeland, not just for the toys, but our excellent customer service and education programs."

Uy—favorite displays: "Tingling All the Way" with warmly-dressed sledding dildos, and a spring scene with dildos sprouting like flowers—helps Tartlet create the window dressing. She put it another way: "I'm not bitter about this and I wish Babeland well, but it's too bad that being a successful corporate business means losing that down-home, mom-and-pop, community-based flavor."

brendan@thestranger.com