Store Rental Prices??

I have a question about the crazy high prices of vendor/store rental spots. I rent alot of places and are finding that the prices are on the rise and prim allowances are dropping and I dont understand why except that maybe its because they can?

What I mean is why do designers rent these places for 600 or 700 a week for 100 or less prims (finding alot of 500L for 50 or less prims)? I can understand maybe if the place has true real "traffic" and has been established for awhile. But what I'm finding is large traffic numbers based on campers, new builds so no history and they are asking for huge rents.

I get invites go there to see and looks like people rushed to rent. Its as if they feel they have to..... just because. They might get left out or not get the "best spot" so they shell out the extreme amount of L's.

Don't people understand if they (we) take a stand and dont rent that prices will go down to a price that makes more sense but if this continues the prices will just continue to climb? I have been designing for 2 years now and funny that we dont get anything more then we did when I started as far as size of rental except less prims yet alot higher prices LOL.

Oh and we are told we need to place advertisements ourself. Used to be they would cut out our area and put us in find. Ok so some do classified and say they pay huge prices for those ads but haveing looked I dont see many high priced ads. I ask "what are you going to do to get shoppers in here?" and the answer... "well I'm haveing a Grand Opening and putting an ad"

I am not trying to be condensending here or upset anyone I just want some feedback to why designers are willing to pay these prices and help the upward sprial of rental prices.

Because rental spots are becoming a huge fad. People will rent anything.



I personally am beyond tired of logging in to 5+ spammers telling me about their new mall.

That is so true Jesseaitui, alot of spam and we are "Mall Saturated"

So many malls, so many campers to inflate traffic. And there are a few stores that seem to have a spot in every mall, regardless of the cost. That's probably encouraging people to open more malls. I've seen malls charging $20 or so per prim allowed, and that's not a rare thing to see.

What I don't get is why people will pay these crazy inflated rates for malls full of camper zombies when for the same amount of money, they could go premium, buy or rent a decent sized chunk of land for themselves, and do their own advertising. I do just fine that way - I don't need to be in a mall to turn a profit, and it's much more stable than going from location to location because the mall owner decided to put prices through the roof or close up shop.

Actually, let me amend that - it's quite possible that a lot of merchandise in SL is so expensive because the creators have to charge a lot in order to make their huge rent payments. I couldn't turn a profit with my current item prices if I was paying that kind of money to rent in malls.

It'll be interesting to see if a lot of malls vanish when LL redoes the traffic so campers don't count so much. Because even though my store traffic isn't all that high, I bet it's higher than most of the malls out there if you take away the campers.

Interesting. We are "mall saturated" and yet we expect people to "create something" and sell it - it has to be sold somewhere, and not everyone can afford the tier. As for rising prices, I don't know and can't comment.

Zazus, you might want to IM me in-world. Not all mall owners charge exhorbiant rates.

The vast majority of sales are not from malls. Mall sites are far more valuable for advertising than for sales.

If you are a new business, your best bet is to find a friend who's a content creator and ask very nicely if you can sell in their shop. Or, get together with them and share the tier on a small area.

Where do you get your data from? A mall is no good for advertising if no one goes there. If there are people there, chances are they are getting sales.

Renting vendor area can be extremely beneficial. I don`t think I have to explain how but maybe I should.


Point in case- Someone can have a shop that does well on its own. But the only folks they attract are those specifically looking up what the shop sells. When you have vendor space you have a great chance of attracting people to your booth who may not have ever heard of you or looked up your particiular product....you gain new customers who probably would not have bought from/heard of you/gave your products a second look otherwise.


of course this is assuming you rent at a place with shoppers...... But keep in mind that just because the place has high traffic from shoppers does NOT guarantee you sales.

I have a small spot in a mall; it features a few of my most popular designs. I also have a 'touch here for landmark to main store' prim there. I figure if I get a couple sales a week in the mall, it pays for my rent there, and people who might just be wandering around have more exposure to my stuff. They can TP to my main store for a much larger selection. It might not bring in TONS of business, but you know, every little bit helps.

That being said, I don't think I would EVER buy a "billboard" space because the chances of someone randomly flying by, stopping to read the billboard, then taking time out of their journey to click are pretty remote. I know I almost never do that when I'm exploring.

Zazas, I think the same as you, that is why where you rent in my mall is not as much and less than 200L for the 200 prims, I think you have.

I dont like campers either, that is why I have classes that people come and walk around. Especially shopping classes.

Now, I am also a designer and decided not to rent anywhere else and only have my main store in Gallii. Althought I do have a couple of locations from long time ago when rents were descent.

I get all these invitations and when I go there, and ask for the rental price, I hear, "600L for 100 prims" I get shocked. They say, "we will have events, a trolley will pass your store constantly lol (which is funny since nobody really sit on a trolley to shop), and yes, I need to put my own advertising.

At Peristeri Mall, where you are, I put all the advertising, I think the owner should.

That is why non of the merchants at Peristeri leave, they have been there for a long long time, like yourself. Only two of 21 merchants left and that was becuase they weren't designing much and RL took over.

I do like you, I dont rent at all in places like that where the rent is so high. I have seen they pay over 800L or even 1000L for spaces that hardly have traffic and if they have traffic is because of campers, and casinos and clubs that are away from the stores.

I dont know where SL is going to tell you the truth. I am not happy how people take advantage now.

Well lets look at the math behind this. These calculations are based on a full sim tier at $195 a month and the curret exchange that is about L$267/US$1

$195 x 267 = L$52065 for tier costs.
Cost per prim per month = 52065 / 15000 = L$3.47/prim

Now I'm sure a lof of people are on the new sims at $295 tier:
$295 x 267 = L$78765 for tier costs
Cost per prim per month = 78765 / 15000 = L$5.25/prim

These two calculations assume you rent EVERY prim on the sim, which of couse malls don't, so lets say they use 1/3 for 'overhead', ie buildings decoration, etc.

$195 tier: 52065 / 10000 = L$5.2/prim
$295 tier: 78765 / 10000 = L$7.88/prim

A smaller mall, say 1/4 sim on the mainland:
$75 tier x 267 = L$20025 for tier costs
Cost per prim per month = 20025 / 3750 = L$5.34/prim
With 33% prim overhead: 20025 / 2475 = L$8.1/prim

Now all these are pretty basic calculations but it really show that anyone renting at L$10/prim/week (remember these calculations are PER MONTH) better be supplying you with a HELL of a place to sell your wares!

Personally I charge between 2.5 and 3.0/prim/week, which gives me a decent profit. I personally will even pay up to 4/prim/week for a good spot in other malls but I consider anything above that totally unacceptable.

Dnel, you've got a good point, but also consider that even if a mall owner is charging more than your rates stated, and a merchant is actually profiting off their rental, it could be thought of as a "good deal"... I'd be willing to even just break even off my mall space if I knew that it would bring in additional customers to my home site... just a thought.

I guess I use my mall space as more 'advertising' than anything else.

If, on the other hand, I DEPENDED on mall space to make a profit, I'd be hurting hard time. I know several designers who've started out in malls and then quit in disgust at their low traffic and high rental rates.

I guess it all depends on what you're using the mall space for: basic sales, or additional advertising...

Oh ya a lot has to do with the 'value' you are getting out of a rental, I'm just saying for L$10 per prim per week there had better be a hell of a lot of value there!

For rentals I think the same way, for me I really consider it advertising and a place to give landmarks to my main store. If a rental store breaks even, that usually good enough for me.

I think anyone that is making a real attempt at sales should have a 'main store', at least within a few months of generating some sales. You ahve more control over it and its likely a more stable location as a lot of come and go malls in SL.

Definitely agreed!!!

High rents are because people think running a mall is easy money. If they inflate the traffic they can inflate the rent and people will pay it. All they have to do is buy some land, build some boxes or set out prefab stores, add some camping items, and spam content creators with notecards. People will then fall over eachother to grab the best spots without taking the time to notice the extreme lag, who else is there, or the campers.

I remember when we still had tp hubs and certain land barons would buy up all the land around them and have disgustingly high rents- but oddly lower then what you see today. That was before campers and the reason why the traffic was so high is cause you'd get stuck in them by trying to get to your actual destination. I did rent out a couple of those when I was new and the sales were so bad that I never stayed more then 2 weeks. And yet, those were mostly full at all times.

I'm not saying only greedy people have malls. Some people keep the rents low to be used as advertising or to offset tier. Some content creators have extra space and actually give out space to their friends, creators they like, or to new designers.

When you are a new designer, it is not only important to have many locations for visibility, but to choose the spots wisely. An ugly, laggy, camper filled mall is going to reflect on you and your content. While standing out is important, being surrounded by crap (and there is a lot of it in SL) isn't going to bring you much business. Your first impression on the customer is extremly important.

After choosing the spaces, pay attention to not only the sales in the locations but also any increase in the main location. If the spots didn't bump the profits up enough, consider leaving. The main store is alway going to be around 90% of your sales but there is no way to tell how people are getting there without paying very close attention to every single change you make.

Personally I only rent out 1 space in a "mall." While the rent is higher then I'd usually pay, it's well worth it. The traffic is naturally high and it's themed - only animations. As a shopper, I liked themed shopping areas the best. With that I'm not talking just about the look of the place but the type of content there. I'd rather see more "malls" concentrating on different styles with a mix of new and older creators. But saddly most people wont take the time to choose the vendors.

As an experiement, I got more land then I needed for my store - 1/4 of a sim. I then built up some custom shops and offered 1/2 of them to designers I liked. Over the next week or two, I recieved a number of IMs from people I hadn't heard of (I don't get out much) asking to rent the remaining shops. I then picked the ones I felt fit with the current vendors in the hopes of helping foot traffic to each one with the idea that if you like one, you'll probably like the next. I don't advertise more then what I do with my store, and traffic isn't extremly high but everyone says their sales are suprizingly high.

I then left 1 shop empty to gather requests, which I now have a long list of people to invite once the full sim is finished without having to spam people. All the rent I'll collect will go directly to advertising because the owner should be paying for it and I'm not doing it to turn a profit.

Saddly, people will always keeping looking for ways to increase profit and the rents will keep going up as long as creators will pay it. It's up to you to decide how much you are willing to take it.

Thank You everyone for your feedback I do agree with most that was said although there is a few things that aren't entirely the norm.

Lately alot of mall owners will not allow you to put LM givers. I am still trying to think of why its a problem to them. :/

As I said I have been designing for along time and I have many rentals. I feel visablity is a good way of advertiseing. Until recently I had a few rentals that pulled in alot more than my home store. So it isn't always the case that you get most sales from your home store.

There are several now big designers that asked me when they started out what should they do. My answer was rent, rent, rent... Visability. They did and now they are doing real good with thier businesses. I also did say to be picky about what you rent as far as price and rents were not as much then.

To see people renting all these outrageous priced rents has me shaking my head in wonderment. I own an Island, pay Tier and have a Shopping Park but there is no way I would ever charge hugh prices of L's for any rental, but that is just me. I charge 400L a week but give 150 prims and I have most of the same people there as there were when I opened a year ago.

Yes Palomma you are right, your Mall - Peristeri is another great example. I have been there since you first opened and will stay there until you close You are one of the best owners anyone could rent from as well as Crucial - Prominade Mall. I could name several others but just wanted to give examples of Malls that have been around for seems like forever and its because they are the best, have great prices and prim allowances or they wouldnt be. They would have closed like so many we see. or haveing to "reinvent" themselves over and over.

I'm not sure how many designers read here but it would be nice as I said in the begining that we all make a stand and stop renting at these places until people see they have to lower prices if they want to have a "packed mall". Where do we draw the line? Well it's not for me to say what You should or should not pay but IMO, 500L for 50 or less prims or 600L/700L for 100 prims for a place with no history, stacked with campers... 20,000 traffic is just not the place to give my L's to. They better have live avs running around, daily events, great advertiseing and a pretty good build!

I agree with Dnel, rents should be between L$3 and 5/prims/week....
But, i also think that LL should lower the tier of sims because of increasing availability of land and sims. Prices in land usually depends in its availability. More land, lower prices, less land, higher prices. But, if LL increase the numbers of sims without lowering the tiers, market will broke down, as there will be more malls trying to get bussines, so they will lower the price to levels under profit. And that is one step before a "Black Friday".

Well, 3 to 5L$ is what we ask at our Mall in Saria, with up to 2000 in traffic and not even 1 camping spot.