Sexyland owner Angelo Abela is in discussions with major shopping centre owners to bring his range of adult products to a much broader, and more lucrative, market.

“We would do it very tastefully and we would look very carefully at what we could put into shopping centres,” Abela says.

If the ambitious move into shopping centres gets the green light, Sexyland stores would need to comply with strict conditions.

“We're mindful of what we can show, what we sell in the premises as such and we would concentrate mainly on product which isn't restricted to adult premises,” Abela says.

“We would never go into it if it wasn't accepted by consumers.”

If Sexyland is introduced to shopping centres, vibrators – its main revenue source – cannot occupy more than 10 per cent of a store's floor-space and must not look phallic.

Abela says his company is focusing only on Victorian shopping centres for now and he expects an outcome by Christmas.

The expansion is just the latest leap for Sexyland, which has enjoyed impressive growth since it began in 2000.

Australia's seemingly insatiable sexual appetite has helped Sexyland grow from its humble beginnings in a former pet-supply store in Melbourne's Thomastown to a multi-million-dollar operation.

The chain has increased its empire at an average rate of more than one store every year. There are now 13 outlets in Victoria and three in the Northern Territory, employing a total of 118 staff.

Abela, who used to operate a muffler franchise, is now the sole owner of the chain after former partner and adult industry veteran Jeff Holland left the company in 2007.

Although reluctant to reveal figures, Abela says Sexyland's revenue is in the “tens of millions”.

And it's not just thanks to sex toys. Sexyland has prospered on the back of a cleaner and more fun marketing and merchandising look than adult shops of years past, Abela says.

“I think people appreciate the type of shop we are and that we are not a sleazy, back-door, backyarder, dark-alley style shop,” he says. “We're on main roads everywhere.”

Abela recently overhauled the company brand and tagged it with the slogan “the fun specialists”.

“Previously we were known as an adult shop and selling bedroom material, but now we've got a lot more into novelties and people enjoying themselves and enjoying life,” Abela says. “It's a lot more mainstream now.”

Sexyland's image renovation was a counter-punch to the increasing threat from free online porn and a rapid emergence of online adult shops.

This resulted in a dramatic drop in DVD sales, which used to represent 40 per cent of Sexyland's sales and now account for 15 per cent.

In the face of increased online competition, Abela says the chain has focused on products other than porn.

“We've concentrated more on lingerie, shoes, novelties and toys rather than the DVD section,” he says.

“We have professional sales staff who are very well in tune with what we have to offer. They go through training on all the products and we do offer customer service which you don't get online.”

Sexyland regained some ground when it relaunched its website 12 months ago.

It also reaped the benefits of what Abela calls the “Fifty Shades effect”. Thanks to the racy novel Fifty Shades of Grey, sales increased by 15 per cent over six months.

“That was huge – overnight our sales just skyrocketed,” Abela says.

“We had people asking, a lot of them women, coming and asking for products featured in the books. We also had guys coming in with a list of things their wife had asked them to buy.”

Abela attends trade shows in Germany, the US, Spain and Hong Kong to source new products.

But even after 13 years of seeing all there is to see in adult products, Abela says he occasionally gets it wrong.

“A little while ago we brought some electric toothbrushes that had a little vibrator tip on the end,” he says. “I thought they were wonderful and bought 500, I've still got 490 left in the warehouse. They never moved.”