Express News Service By

KOCHI: Buoyed by its successful launch in Thiruvananthapuram and Goa, HLL has set up Moods Planet, India’s premium one-stop exclusive retail showroom for condoms at Kochi. It allows customers to get tips about a healthy sex life from men at the counter.

“The standalone store is less about selling condoms and more about disseminating information. We want to personally connect with our customers and desensitize them about the taboo attached to purchasing condoms,” said M. Ayyappan, chairman and managing director of HLL Lifecare Ltd (HLL).

Moods Planet is more than a condom selling outlet. It is a comprehensive information centre to ferret out information about anything and everything related to condoms and healthy sex life. The showroom also stocks illustrated booklets with sex tips and FAQs in which relevant chapters of Kamasutra, the ancient Indian treatise on sex, have been reproduced.

Ayyappan said that the staff are trained to answer queries about sexually-transmitted diseases and reproductive health. “We want the store to be the go-to place for curious youngsters who may otherwise resort to the wrong sources for information,”, he said.The first outlet of Moods Planet was opened in Thiruvananthapuram which was a grand success. It spurred HLL to set up a new outlet in Kochi.

“Moods Planet recently opened an outlet in Goa. We are enthused by the increasing number of footfalls at the outlet,” he said. HLL has decided to open its outlet in other metros too.Located opposite Medical Trust Hospital in Kochi, Moods Planet store has been designed in a way that a person can easily walk in without feeling embarrassed of visiting a ‘condom shop’ and pick up contraceptives of his or her choice.

At Moods Planet, people can also buy various other HLL products, such as Velvet female condoms and Saheli non-steroidal oral contraceptive pills.

HLL, which ranks among the leading producers of condoms in the world, produces 1950 million pieces of condoms a year.

Moods is the market leader in Kerala with a share of 56 per cent.