Dark Victorian Emporium Opens

Today was the opening of the Dark Victorian Emporium in Tanglewood--a brand-new one-stop shop featuring clothing by designers such as myself, skins, accessories, home furnishings, and even horses with a dark bent. We celebrated with a dance on the roof of Dame Lapin's gorgeous build as Duckthulhu Dagger spun the tunes.

It will also be the only place where you can find goods for sale by artist AM Radio in the near future. Members of the Dark Victoria group may sell their wares there and if you are interested in doing so, please contact Mr. Posemaster Darkstone...

Merchant Talk

Last night I had a chance to really talk to longtime Caledon resident and former steward, Mr Gerami Fizz. We have shared a shop in Steelhead for quite some time now, but we've never had a chance to formally chat beyond exchanging pleasantries while out and about.

I always enjoy talking to other shopkeepers and creators. We were both in Antiquity Shouls looking at shop space and discussed retailing inworld and new creations, and he showed me a new sword he has been working on. I don't know if folks realize how much work actually goes into shops. These are by no means complaints, as I love what I do, but I think most merchants I know will say the same thing: they love creating, but the retailing part is a lot. First, you must create the piece, but then it is a matter of photographing it, boxing it, loading the vendor, and placing it in your shop space or aethernet shop.

Not to mention that your groups become eaten up by land permission groups. A good deal of my 25 groups are merchant-related. I have always felt that land owners should have a land rez permission list similar to that of the add and ban list so that they may add/remove names as necessary. And if you have multiple shops, such as Mr Fizz and I do, there is also a matter of general maintenance. Somewhere that I can just leave my vendor and--even better--not need a land group is even better! Those who know me know that I perform shopkeeping duties on Mondays. I am always prompt when customers have questions, but on Mondays I check rents and vendors, box and photograph items, and deal with general store concerns. And yes, that is my new little storefront behind me!

Pardon the Dust! E.Laval is Moving!

I wanted to downsize. Gryffin wanted to downsize. I didn't want the gallery build or the gallery itself to go away, so I came up with a solution. I have outgrown my shop, so I bought the rights to the Inkyboy Gallery parcel from him so that I may move my shop there instead. I know I'm biased, being its builder, but it's larger and lovely and closer to the hub and Gryffin will still be able to show his work. The Guvnah stopped by and switched it all over. Exciting!

A win-win situation for everyone...

The Amazing Miss Malaprop!

While caught up in SL weirdnesses, I thought I'd try to tp to Ordinal Enterprises. I had just bought the new Flick Knife (ooo!) and Galvanic Swordstick (aah!), when who should walk from the back of the shop but Miss Ordinal Malaprop herself!!I had never met Miss Malaprop before and have always had a very short list of folks in Caledon that I was dying to meet (besides Des, of course!) . She was at the top on my list due to her wit, sheer talent, and creativity. She is very down to earth and a pleasure to talk to. We commiserated about SL's current sorry state of affairs (I couldn't attach all of my clothing and she was nervous about leaving the shop as tps and logins were crazy...) She had just finished making one of her machinima for the swordstick and was more than happy to demonstrate it for me...
You should hear the sound effects on it!

A Brownstone in Progress

One of the distinctive things to me about Regency as a whole is its brownstones. I am glad that so many folks have chosen to keep them. I know I kept mine as it seemed perfect for a split shop.

I love to build and retexturing the brownstone has been fun so far. My next-door neighbor Lady Edwina might beg to differ with me on that point and is probably frowning in disagreement. You can see the original look of my brownstone on what is to be the men's haberdasher shop on the right. I've been working on a different look for the left side, which is to be my women's shop. On the roof is a lovely area with a wonderful view where you can dance if you like. We seem to be developing a "rooftop culture" here. It is exciting to see everyone making Regency "home" and creating a new community like this.