What do you like in a shop?

Information may or may not be used for personal gain =P

But seriously just wondering.. and felt it deserved a poll. All things listed are very possible in SL.

ALso, for other please list ^_^

Any other things than style is good to know too ^_^

Customer Service. Someone being in the store that can point me in the direction or area of what I am shopping for at the moment.

lol answered before the poll was even up o.o

Didn't know that was possible

I said "Other" because I like a variety of shop types. It's more fun to see how people translate their products that way. I've been to spacy shops, woodsy shops, open air shops, marble shops, etc. Variety, sez I!

/me giggles

WOnder if I can incorporate them all

Make a spaceship out of wood, with some branches intact, and some nice dark marble walkways and fountains... a little 'deck' with a grassy outdoor area with some little stalls... the 'fins' would be made of odd-shaped pie slices, it could have a porch for the country feel... a giant child sculpture could be holding it, and in his other hand is a wad of dirt that is an island in and of itself..

AWESOME!

I said other. I don't care what I'm shopping in, as long as I can find what I'm looking for, being able to camera around is a plus.

I was at the store of one of SL's more famous designers the other day. I found the dress I went there for, and decided before I actually hit the buy button, I'd see if there was anything else I wanted more.

The problem was, when I went back to find that dress - I couldn't. I actually had to enlist the help of a friend. The store is so big, with so many displays set up, that it was hard to camera around, and even harder to simply walk around. There were TPs for the different sections, but that didn't help me much.

Laid out in an open, non-cluttered fashion (much like my own stores), so that I can see, I don't care what the rest of it is.

Howard Hughes did build an airplane out of wood. Anything's possible!

I was torn but chose conservative and rectangular. I actually prefer variety but have too often run into situations where the person seemed to forget they were a store. They went for style rather than ease of use.

I'll stick with my answer but will say my correct answer is variety as long as it's still easy to shop there.

I voted for country feel only because I truly dislike, big, boxy shops. I also love open air markets, just be careful not to make a maze. One should be able to see most, if not all the shops in one quick turn/pan if one is standing in the middle. Don't know if that makes sense... It incites people to visit all the shops. If I teleport somewhere for a specific item, I'll usually leave once I have found it. I'm not going to get "lost" going this way or that in case I might find something else. If I am actually able to see inside all the shops when I arrive (open tents and such), I am tempted to have a look around and browse.

/me votes Other - it really depends on what I'm shopping for. What would look perfectly fine as, say, a clothes shop might be totally wrong for an avatar shop...

The shop should over all represent what is being sold. I often walk away from shops not even looking inside if it does not even vaguely give me the impression I will find what I am looking for. Be it a dress for a gift to my girlfriend, gothic clothing, or my latest arms acquisition, ect. It should have product layed out in an orderly fashion so us independent types can look though it at our leasure and not miss or skip over product we may actually buy because it's purposelessly broken up by something unrelated, having a customer service rep on hand is nice to for larger shops, especially more expansive (Large area) shops.

As for design that goes back to my original comment, there is no preferred design in general, rather the design should reflect what is being sold.

I know you're not selling clothes or skins, but...

I'm always impressed by the upscale shops. The ones that look like the places that are way too expensive for me to shop in in RL. The kind where the sales girls are dressed better than you will ever be. The kind that intimidate you and make you feel like a bumpkin from West Underdog. Open spaces, glass counters, high fashion...

Armidi is a good example. Some of their products aren't really all that great, but the presentation is WOW.

I didn't vote.

What I like in a shop, is an atmosphere that is conducive to the product or target audience it encompasses.

I also like to see care in the design and layout of the store, the product, and the marketing.

And as an added bonus, I like to see custom shadowing and lighting...I can't stand flat, boring, depthless environments.

I picked other

I do not much care what the building looks like, it could be totally open, no building at all

as long as the products are quality and not some cheap knockoff or worse yet, someone selling freebies

and of course decent prices, not so over priced it makes one cringe

QFT. I voted other for the same reason.

wooot I got QFT'd hehe

I made a little store for my own place, but when it comes to shopping elsewhere, the building doesn't much matter (of course if it is a maze and I can not find where I need to go that is a downside)

oh and... I HATE malls that do not allow ppl to set the landmark location for ads or landmarks.
I hate hate hate TPing to a store that is in a mall, and the TP takes me to some central location and I am clueless where to look to find the store (and the red arrow is not there as the TP is directly to the area I came in at cuz the ppl renting are not allowed to set the TP or LM location

hope that made sense

I back out of those places quickly

I don't care as long as it rezzes fast and has specific prim count/information regarding whatever I want to buy.. I like the varity. In RL I do not shop in malls.. I shop at mom & pop stores, small furniture stores etc..... IN SL I stay away from the MALL type areas too... too laggy for me anyway... So i'd rather go to theme based strip malls.. and have a nice walking tour outside while I go in and out of stores. This is where I have found my best purchases! And if I find a place to go hang gliding while Im there, or something fun, I will return..
that's my choice..


I will say I DO like stores that have models, or cutouts of clothing/skin/shapes or rezzable items.. and DEMOS for skins/shapes/hair is a must.
I also won't shop in stores that sell freebie items. Don't care what else you got if you're selling something I can get for free I will pass your store by.

All these stores with all this free stuff for sale, even the resale freebie stuff, is a waste of space I think no matter what they house it in.


I hate the vender systems too... Rather see a nice picture on the wall.. I know I know Im weird like that... Although I make excpetions if the item is rezzed on that system..

and I agree with Rhaorth Antonelli on the landmark issue!!! I had a store at a place once and I could not LM to my store.. And it was a long dinstance from their "central point" ......

Mostly echoing what other people said already .

I only care about what a store looks like in so much that it's not going to lag me down (some stores seem intent on having 100 different sculpty shapes in which case all I'll see for 5 minutes are gray spheres all over the place and even if I were to wait - which I don't - the client-side induced lag of the sculpties would make shopping a big pain).

So for me a perfect store is one that uses a minimal amount of textures for the store itself and a minimal amount of "decorating" (I do prefer a decorated store over one with just prims on the walls). The tp point usually puts me inside the store and I'll tp out when I'm done, so don't really care what it looks like on the outside.

However, even more important to me is having things categorized and easy to find (and as someone pointed out, easy to find again once you wander around). There's definitely a threshold for me personally where I'm just too overwhelmed by the hundreds of different items on display to get any decent shopping done.

And maybe obvious, but I like stores I can actually find as well . While some sims are extremely well done and very beautiful... if I can't find where the actual store is within a few minutes, I'll give up and tp away.

OH and I almost forgot, I HATE when ppl fake their traffic with campers and then advertise it as high traffic BLECH (that came to mind because I am looking for a place to set up a shop, need to spread out just a little)

last place had 0 sales in over a month, because of I am suspecting faked traffic, I need to be more careful when I decide to rent somewhere.

edited to add

and the dreaded no fly in a mall or large store is a total turn off, I immediate TP out.

I could TP back in fly mode to bypass it , but I just do not bother

I hate having to walk around a huge mall or store

I'm with Bradley on this one. I love variety in the buildings and suich, but it has to be easy to shop at. One well-known designers has a very nice looking store, but it's so confusing it's impossible to find what you're looking for.

I like the small "boutique" type shops that sell items one doesn't see just everywhere. Also MUCH prefer "Mom & Pop" places. I will shop in larger, "known" places, but ONLY if I don't feel "smothered" - meaning open and easy to cam around.

Never go to malls - RL or SL.