Shopping Sims

I visited a couple of sims that seemed to be all shopping. Individual stores around some open space.

One had a boardwalk coaster car that you rezzed to move you around the island. There were points were it stopped and you had to get out and look around/shop or rez a new car. Here is a slurl to one store on the sim - http://slurl.com/secondlife/TSUKIJI/65/84/22

One the sim was all black and grays - the sidewalk, the trees. The stores had a little color in the store names that you could see from the streets. Inside the clothes of course provided color. The black/gray background made the colors stand out. Here is a slurl to this sim - http://slurl.com/secondlife/Heartless%20City/134/136/41

One was just a series of open stores around a grassy plot. Felt less permanent than the others. Definitely felt less upscale.

I didn't see any way to know what was on the sim anywhere on these 3 examples - no island directory for instance, although granted, I tp'd into a specific store on each sim and not some central landing zone. You just walked around and looked to see what was there. With SL being slow to rez, that can be kind of aggravating because it seems the store name is often the last thing to rez (kind of like finding your keys in the last place you look). The vast majority of the stores on each of these sims were women's clothing. They're kind of like a RL mall in that. But no game stores or furniture for the most part. All in all, there's not much reason to wander if you came for a specific store - nothing to lead you around the sim.

The exception was the sim with the boardwalk coaster car. That sim had little carts set up all along the waterfront with freebies and cheap things from the merchants on the sim (I think that's what was there - the signs were mostly in Japanese). There were some humorous themed elementsIt also had some machines that seemed to be set up to change RL currency into Lindens.

Here's a view of one of the stores on the Japanese sim with a view out the door

And here's a closeup of the machines you can see out the store's door.

A couple of interesting store interiors

I was following some links earlier today and was really taken by the entrance to this store...unfortuantely not much else outside of this one to make it worth going outside to take a look. It was in a castle. The floors were wood planks. The walls were stone. It looked like a castle inside. The front doors were massive, metal engravings. Stained glass images flanked the doors. It was the stain glass that caught my eye.

This is a long shot of the inside of Vinyl Addict. . It's fun. There's a giant glass of milk and some cookies, some cupcakes you can sit on, a big stuffed rabbit, dance balls for tinies (little avatars that come up to a typical avatars knees), and record album covers on the wall. Nothing for sale, just a fun space as you come into the store.

Here's a close up of the milk and cookies. Big - that's me next to the glass.

Here's the outside of the store..it's also fun. Oversized fruit and mushrooms, a Mini Cooper (don't know why). There's water behind me and there are some boats out there. I'm not sure who sees it tho since the TP lands you inside the store.

This post is related to the one about TP landing zones. Where the avatar enters your store seems important. Do you feature a few things for sale, put out a gift item, visually lead them into the main retail space? If you have a central TP spot, people do tend to pile up there - they just stand and wait for things to rez or they land but can't move because of lag. If you don't have a TP landing spot, then sometimes it's difficult to tell what store you're in or where in the store you've landed this time.

Last day of the Fashion Fest

I visited a rew more sims in the2010 Fashion Fest. There were 9 sims altogether in the event, each with a different theme. Today I visited sims with an  Egyptian theme, an Italian renaissance theme, and an American Wild West theme. The brands or the products they're offering don't seem to have any connection to the sim theme. The retail spaces are very nicely themed tho.


This is Kunglers' store on the Italian Renaissance themed sim. There are frescoes on the wall, mosaics on the floor and clothes . That's me sitting in the chair on the left

Here's a long view of the main plaza on the Italian Renaissance sim. Lots of art, plants, and places to walk. Things are huge here. i'm the tiny speck in the center of the picture at the base of the flag pole

Here's the inside of a store ont eh Egyptian themed sim. There was a pyramid, elephants and camels. And surprisingly , lots of water features. I loved all the textures used in these sims - the architecture established the theme and all the details definitely enhanced it.

Here's a long shot of one of the buildings set up on the Egyptian themed sim. See the great desert backdrop?

I'm not sure why the sims weren't more crowded. There were some well known brands. There were scheduled events. Maybe I just went during non-peak times. But to me it seemed less visited than the Fashion Fair held earlier in 2010.

Front desks

I have been noticing that many large stores have front desks. They're not manned - or at least they haven't been while i've been there. They're impressive, make the store look a bit more upscale. Sometimes there are freebies on the surface, things to click to leave notes for the owner or to get customer service. Store policies can be displayed here. Usually there is information about how to join the store group or a subscribe-o-matic so the customer can get join the stores mailing list.

In each case pictured below, the color scheme and style of the store is reflected in the design of the front desk.

Another big store with some interesting display options

Image via Wikipedia

Strolling down the Champs Elysees in SL is a lot like strolling down the real thing. On the side is a picture of the real thing. Your feet hurt by the time you're half way through and you can see the Arc de Triomphe. And there are some great shops. Fortunately no cars or traffic in SL.









Here are a couple of pictures I took standing on the street. The first shows a couple of the stores - notice the one has put large images of their clothes int he window to attract people walking on the street.

The second is just a long shot of the street. There are cafes on the sidewalk, French flags, long vistas, and the Arc de Triomphe at the end of the street.

Here some pictures of one of the stores - fashion design, lingerie - called  Elemiah- a big store that's open and light and has some interesting
 (SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Av%20Champs%20Elysees/94/194/2)