Chandigarh's Condom Bar is a smash hit

17 September, 2007

The next time you hit the busy Chandigarh-Panchkula highway, make sure you visit the Kalagram complex where India's first condom bar is located. In just four months of Condom Bar's launch, liquor sales and distribution of free condoms at the bar are high.

According to reports, the pick-ups of free and paid condoms by customers at the bar-cum-discotheque have been doubling with each passing month. Female condoms are also being taken away from the bar by women though the numbers are still marginal, the report added.

Run by the Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corp (CITCO), the condom bar had introduced the new condom vending feature in May 2007 to spruce up the liquor-serving discotheque. Company officials now certify that, the days of apprehensions are over. “People don't mind coming
here. The figures speak for themselves.” The aim is to make people, especially youngsters, aware of AIDS and the need for safe sex.

While the first month saw as many as 456 condoms, including six female condoms, being picked at the place, the month of June 2007 witnessed the
number shoot up to 873, including five female condoms. In July 2007, the condom distribution again nearly doubled to 1,394. In August, the figure touched nearly 2,200.

The condom bar, significantly, is attracting worldwide attention with the media from Canada, Australia, the US, and Europe running stories at length. Walk in to the bar and find for yourselves interiors decorated with real condoms. It also serves your drink in beer mugs in the shape of a condom. The staff uniform bears a condom logo.

Along with condoms, liquor sales are high as well. Sales have shown a 10-12 percent increase during May-August 2007 compared to sales in the same period in 2006. In June 2007, sales hit a high of nearly Rs 162,000.

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