High-
Street retailers have checked.
Ups in porn and are keen to take advantage of their profit margins.
James Hall reports that when the porn festival closes tonight, it is expected that 75,000 people will visit these three
An adult Day event at the Olympia exhibition center in west London.
Love celebrates sex.
It includes more than 200 stalls selling a variety of exciting products from rubber bodice to sex toys, hot tub to adult holidays.
When visitors walk past stalls that don't leave any imaginary names --
Like the n' horny that binds heaven and babies-
They can watch vulgar floor shows and test the latest designs of furniture for masochists.
However, the erotic color is not just a refuge for the quirky ethnic minorities in England: The festival may just be a new face in central England.
In fact, according to organizers, the festival attracts more visitors per square meter than the ideal family performance.
Erotic is evidence-
Now more than ever beforesex sells.
The sex industry is becoming mainstream.
According to an exit survey conducted at last year's event, most tourists are homeowners, with nearly 1 out of 3 married and have a degree.
Half of the tourists come from families earning more than £ 30,000.
Above the national average
The most common newspaper for female tourists is the Daily Mail.
The average cost per visitor on the product is an amazing 195.
Davis Edwards, secretary of the adult industry trade association, said: "You can't distinguish between pornography and shopping centers (AITA)
A trade agency representing the adult sector. Now high-
Street retailers are participating in the bill.
Last week, department store Debenhams said it would start stocking sex toys later this month.
Boots, a health and beauty retailer, is also considering selling a range of sex toys.
Professional adult stores are booming.
Ann Summers has 120 stores in the UK and plans to have 150 by the end of 2005, and Peter Stirling Feiler, the owner of the nightclub of the same name, has just opened an online store selling all kinds of porn
So what's behind this explosion?
"There was a sexual revolution in the street.
"Women have taken control of their sex lives and are comfortable buying sex toys," said Jacqueline Gold, chief executive of Ann Summers.
Last year alone, her chain sold 2 m sex toys, the most popular being the Rampant Rabbit vibrator.
A spokesman for Butz said the days when adult shops were linked to the shabby back street had passed.
"In reality, this is becoming more and more common on the streets.
"Right now, a healthy sex life is considered the right of everyone," he said . ".
Boots have had discussions with Durex condom maker SSL on developing a range of vibrators and a few other things
Although nothing is yet certain, it is called marriage AIDS.
People of all ages seem to be enjoying a new sexual revolution.
Sam Roddick, founder of Sea coconut, a London store, blamed "the fun of erotic boutique and luxurious antique shops", said women of all ages-
Including a large number of late
Menopause women
Buy vibrator.
"Most people think the liberators are young people, but the opposite is true.
Sex is a journey.
"The older you are, the more you know," she said . ". Roddick -
25 years ago, his parents started a chain of body stores.
Sex is no longer an embarrassment to customers or businesses, he says.
Many "big department stores" asked her if she could sell her products, but she declined, she said.
Coco de Mer, who sells everything from 12 feather ticklers to 2,700 "tally ho" tie benches with horse stir, has dabbled in Porn "salons" and conversation.
The theme ranges from "strip art" to "Introduction to Japanese Rope binding.
Something more attractive.
The title negotiations are over. subscribed.
"The talks give a sense of pleasure and information," Roddick said . ".
But in addition to letting go of attitudes towards the sale and use of sex toys, there is another reason why retailers are pouring in.
"Bigger retailers will be attracted to the profits of our industry," said Dale Bradford, commercial sex trade editor. to-
The adult business and trade magazine, founded 18 months ago.
Bradford says profits for vibrators and other sex toys are "more lucrative" than in other retail sectors ".
There is no data on how much the adult industry is worth, because it has been underground for a long time, but industry insiders believe it is worth hundreds of millions of pounds.
"One of the things we are trying to push IS reliable research," Bradford said . ".
The fact that the adult industry also has trade institutions makes it highly respected.
Edwards of AITA said the agency was established a year ago and the number of members has tripled.
"Our goal is to introduce good practices that give our customers confidence in our members," he said . ".
There is still a lot of ignorance about the difference between the legal adult industry dealing with sex toys, adult fashion and legal classified videos and the illegal porn industry including prostitution.
To that end, AITA is trying to help skeptical banks and insurance companies believe they are dealing with a legitimate, thriving industry.
However, some executives in the adult industry are not optimistic.
Or free.
Mainstream retailers are pouring into the market.
The Gold of ansamer is one of them.
"It is inevitable that other retailers will join the trend.
However, it's not as simple as squeezing into a few sex toys and hoping to see sales grow, "she said.
"We have more than 30 years of history, building business relationships with our customers and making them comfortable to enter our stores to buy underwear and sex toys.
"I can't see anyone wearing boots and buying hemorrhoids cream and sex toys," she said . ".
Rodick of Coco de Mer thinks this is a question of context.
While boots can meet functional needs by selling sex toys, its store lacks any sexy hints, which may deter shoppers, she said.
"This is not the most fun place to watch fun toys.
It's about romantic souls that make people feel good about themselves.
"I don't know what Boots will do," she said . ".
A Boots spokesman said the retailer was considering three issues before deciding whether to stock sex toys.
These are the reactions of the customer when they see the vibrator next to the toothpaste, how the goods will be packaged, and where they will be sold in the store.
Boots don't do "tasteless or cheesy" things.
He also dismissed a recent newspaper report accusing butts of considering entering the adult toy market and betraying the ideals of its founder.
He insists that Jesse Boot, the son of the retailer's founder, is a "progressive" person.