Mall Wars: Is it upon us?

With so many malls and stores in SL, is the inevitable war upon is?

I'm going to Galleria City tonight to enlist!!

Come to the Taber Market Place!! No Mall wars here, just 15 medieval type market stalls.

Although we don't rule out some jousting in the future!!

Oooo, really? I met my future husband at a MUSH jousting tournament! I'd love to recreate that (and beat him this time!)

Awww Lisse... that's so technologically romantic.

Hey, if there was a SL equivalent to Wal-Mart, what would it be?

Probably the stores with the worst textures ever, near each telehub. They don't have a lot of selection, but damn, they are everywhere. You'll know you are there by the amount of data your client is being forced to download.

Mall Wars....Sounds like a great Star Wars parody.

Ooh, I remember Hardware Wars! Great spoof!

What's needed is a better shopping experience.

Someone needs to figure out a better way to shop, basically.

All these malls, they look like a clusterf*ck. Vendors, boxes, garish colors everywhere... it looks like what a capitalist might throw up after drinking a few too many martinis.

Where's the department chains? Where's the organized buildings with similar floorplans? Where's the marketing directors for these stores? The inventory manager?

Why hasn't anyone modelled their SL stores to be more like a real world one? Obviously it works for them...

LF

Because in the real world, department stores buy wholesale in quantity, and sell retail.

In SL, this is problematic because of the copy/transfer permissions system. There's no way for a mall owner to buy an object from a creator with permission to make "up to 50 copies".

So, instead of mall owners buying large quantities of items from creators, and then marking up and displaying uniformly in stores, they have to simply rent space to the creators themselves. Who want to make their displays personal, naturally!

Plus, with creators selling direct to the end user instead of through a middleman retailer, it makes warranty returns and customer service easier to track and verify.

Ask Alexander Martov, he has one!

I'd say Moopf Murray's Quick Stores (a concept I am unashamedly copying)

I was never a mall fan.
still not big into it.
but its growing on me.
Just having people around is nice.
but I will have to kill all mall owners now if there is a war.
lol
only in sl.

there are allot of them.
the one I like best it this pyramid one that has a mid east theme.

I go there just to look at the buildings. its so nice.

More stores = More Stuff = More Variety = More Toys for ME!

No problem with more malls, just more stuff to look at, and even buy..bring em on!

Clint can you give me the addy of this mal?

Thanks

Merwan-

I believe the Pyramid Mall that Clint is speaking of is in Lozi. During the weekends it features a rather cool little bazaar comprised of carts and rugs, surrounded by tents for vendors to rent and some extremely middle eastern landscaping/plants.

All you need now is a camel or two.

I don't have the exact location being that I am at work. KitKat McLean is one of the mall managers, maybe you could contact her.

Good Luck!

THE SOURCE

lol I live in sami (right next door) and for some reason the pyramid mall banned me. No idea why. Been there once, used the GOM atm, don't think any innocent bystanders were hurt. Had somebody else shoot me while using the atm. doesn't really bug me, I don't need to be there, and there was no flaming involved, it does look like a cool place. Anyway I just go sit ground in front of the atm which lets me in long enough to use the atm, then go home . I am currious however. If any managers from pyramid mall see this... lol, why?

Check out any avalon. mall or store

I am not familiar with THE SOURCE. I will have to check that out!

Oh, I like the SpaceThinkDream.com stuff too. It was strange and lonesome visiting it all by myself at night though... I hope some day the shopping malls will be more bustling (but with less lag, of course).

Thanks for the info Kat!

The pyramid mall just is just off the Sami telehub in Lozi.. you really can't miss it. But start walking south east while you wait for it to rez

When you are done looking at the pyramid mall.. look in to horizon for a tall lighthouse (east side of Lozi), and check the few vendor stalls around the lighthouse out, or walk inside and take the elevator to the lookout, nice view of the pyramid mall up there.

I must applaud Avalon stores for avoiding the ubiquitous "vendor," but that has a flip side as well. By eschewing convention, it can be harder to figure out what to do. People (experienced SL people, anyway) come to expect the rectangular picture box, and generally know what to do to cycle through the display or purchase from it. Maybe we need something better, but I haven't seen it yet.

Although I couldn't picture Avalon using vendors. It seems so...ordinary!

What would make a better sales gizmo? Not sure, but it would have to show that it is clickable without having to hover the mouse over it. It would have to communicate what will happen next. I.E. will the buyer click "Buy" or have to fork a certain amount of money over? And of course show (along with nearby displays) what the customer will receive.

Has anyone seen a setup that works really well?

I do have to point out that Alexander Martov's mall designs are pretty good.
I had some time last week when I was sick to try to duplicate one of his designs.
AKK I cant build!!