Store remodel is finished!

It’s been over 1 1/2 years since SFW Industries was first launched, and I’m pleased to say that business is doing well. I’ve been carefully tending it with a tightly focused business strategy, which includes regular product releases, and finally the store is regularly covering it’s own tier (plus a little extra for R&D activities).

The old building came with the land when I purchased it early in 2011. It was a simple brick structure with a minimal layout, originally designed to be a residential structure. Making changes to the architecture was one of my first lessons in how the permissions system works in SL when objects are transferred. I immediately deleted everything I considered non-essential, as I needed every prim I could get and I had not yet purchased the extra parcels in the region across the street.

Original SFW Industries building, 2011

Earlier in the year I was starting to get bored with the business’s inworld presence and I began idly considering moving the whole works to a rental location on a managed estate, to further reduce my monthly costs and increase overall profit. I spent a long time trying to find a location I liked but every place I looked either had too many restrictions (I couldn’t run a bot, for example; I don’t run one currently but I like the option to do so in the future) or — more frequently — obnoxious neighbors that didn’t support my company’s desired brand identity. I didn’t want my customers, who may be newbies fresh to SL, to walk out my front door and be confronted by women in scanty lingerie. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that moving the store brought with it many problems and things I’d have to deal with, not the least of which was repacking all my inventory with a new landmark. I didn’t want customers to arrive at an old LM and not find my store!

I decided instead that I should stay on my original parcel, on the Mainland continent of Jeogeot, and instead change buildings. I tried out several structures, both purchased and homemade, and found one that I was able to work with that had a functional layout and floorplan. It was a time-consuming process that took about two months of my free time in the evenings and on the weekends.

Finally, it is finished; or at least finished enough to tell you about it. I’m really pleased with how it turned out. Most of the products are out on the floor now, and several more are on their way. Please stop by if you get a chance and let me know what you think! I have a lot of new enhancements and promotions planned, and we will continue to participate in hunts: hell, I may even organize one!

Loft Remodeling

I totally forgot to mention the another reason why I haven’t been posting lately: I’ve been remodeling the SFW LOFT store, the skybox above our ground shop which holds all our men’s and women’s professional attire. I knew I wanted a new look for the store but I wanted to keep the “revitalized urban warehouse” atmosphere, but I wanted to make it a bit more modern and warmer, give it a little bit more personality. I ran across a photo of a residential loft space which inspired me (right).

I’m hoping to have the building finished and restocked by the end of the month, but it’s hard to really say for sure. You can still find all our products on the SecondLife Marketplace, in the meantime. I’ll announce the reopening here on the blog.

Here are a few photos of the building: I think I got pretty close, don’t you?