The long road to Now...

Well, hello there!

Many of you have probably been wondering where I've been. Much has happened over the past year, so I do have quite a few things to share with you. Agape locations have opened and closed and we actually do have a proper Mainstore now in a pretty-much-permanent location (more on that later). We've loved and lost and loved again, come up with new ideas, revisited old ones, underwent criticism which caused us to take a long hard look at ourselves (and decide that much of it was silliness to begin with), and even did some work on our long-suffering not-so-secret project.

I suppose I should start with the basics. In April 2009 I bought a parcel of land on a sim known as Creamy Shores (yes, that's what it was really and truly called) and began construction on a proper Mainstore. Even though I never really blogged about it, the store proved to be popular and I was happy with the way it turned out - yet there was something missing. Neighbors with questionable building taste moved in and promptly set up ban lines, which totally ruined the concept I had going, so once the parcel in the NE corner of the sim became available I bought it.

The next 3 months or so were spent terraforming the land and re-creating my build on the new parcel while the original store remained open. Correcting what I saw as its flaws, my hope was to bring our customers a new and improved Agape experience. The fantastic Tymus Tenk of Envision Landscaping was on hand to assist in the terraforming and landscape the location. With most of his time being taken up by the creation of his fabulous Calas Galadhon sims, I cannot thank him enough for undertaking this project. Because a whole sim or private island was not in the stars for me, we did everything in our power to minimize the possible effect any of our neighbors' builds might have upon our customers' shopping experience and came up with the idea of disguising the our corner of the sim as a private island.

Actually, this is not as difficult to do as one might think. with some careful planning and consideration given to possible sight lines, we were able to to pull off the illusion rather well I think. This newly-improved Mainstore opened in February 2010, but unfortunately for me, Dreamland Estates decided to close down the Creamy Shores sim, forcing us to relocate a mere 2 months after it had opened. The incredible Mr. Tenk and the talented Mr. Regi Yifu of Regimade heeded my desperate call and aided in moving the build to its current home on the Liberation sim, and I must say... the current version of the build is even better than the last! I would also like to thank Mr. Lef Leven of Ars Avette for so graciously coming out and replacing the ancient sailing vessel that got eaten in a sim crash at our previous location. It is truly a fine ship that graces our shores!

If you've not been out yet, please do stop by and pay us a visit. A lot has changed, and I must say it's all for the better. Also, our free photo studio is back for those of you who need to make a new profile picture. Just look for the TP pad under the spiral staircase next to the brass brazier. there are also areas out in front of the store that make great photo spots.

Until next time!
-Zim

"Ancient Pleasures" party @ Warehouse Plaza

Howdy folks,


It's been months since we first opened our store at the fabulous Warehouse Plaza, but what many of you did not know is that it's now in a different location there. We started off in a tiny spot near the entrance to what is now the Hothouse Plaza sim, but just after the holidays we moved to "Judgement Square" on the other side of the Warehouse Plaza sim near the entrance to Folsom Plaza. Sound confusing? It isn't really. In fact to help you find it, we're hosting a huge party at our new Warehouse Plaza Agape store :-)










We've named the party "Ancient Pleasures" in a nod to ancient Greece and to better fit our L$1500 contest theme of "Best in Silks". What better way to show off your bod than with a Silks contest? DJ Gregster Kidd will be on hand to serve up the hot tunes while our guests groove and gyrate to the hot beats. My best buddy Gilgalahad Gunsberg (no relation) has built us a spectacular set to party on complete with a giant statue of Atlas holding the world on his shoulders. The party will run from 1 - 3PM SLT on Saturday, April 18th so that our European friends will be able to join us for this truly special event.

All the elements are in place for an afternoon (or evening) to remember... the only thing missing is you! Mark your calendars and TP on down to party with us!

See you there!
-Zim

Agape @ Warehouse Plaza: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Warehouse%20Plaza/165/244/23

The Return of DJ Kadie

Not that she was ever completely gone, mind you. Last Summer, one of our personal faves, DJ Kadie Pinkenba decided to take a little time off to try a little game known as WoW. At the time she told me, "I'm sure I won't be playing for long, " thinking to herself "I'll just give it a little try and be back soon. It can't be THAT addictive." Well several months and several high-level characters later, DJ Kadie is back and she's in top form.






It pleases me to announce that the one and only DJ Kadie is back and will be playing at the Agape Mainstore's Grand Opening at Gaytown Mall this Saturday, March 14th from 1 - 3pm SLT. The store is ready (and it truly is something special, folks) and all that's missing is your presence. Please do plan to attend as this really looks like it's going to be a very special afternoon of entertainment. The store has moved 2 doors down, so be sure to update your LM's. You can find us here:



http://slurl.com/secondlife/The%20Highlander/89/86/578



See you Saturday!



-Zim

So yeah...

Well I suppose that I have a bit of catching up to do now that I'm here. Where to begin? Let's see...


I opened my first Agape store last Summer in the mall outside of Romeo Reardon's Club Athens on the Thesoloniki sim (Unfortunately the store, the mall, and the whole Sim are no longer there). I started off with just 4 shapes (LOL), but I was damned proud of my little storefront and would spend hours just shifting things around, trying to make things look a bit interesting, but once I had a few more shapes under my belt it became clear that I'd need to expand. Soon after that an opportunity became available to open a location at Gaytown Mall.


John and Gully were in the process of renovating and expanding the mall, so I jumped at the chance and ended up with a wonderfully huge space with windows on 3 sides that would prove to shape the "look" for the other stores that were to follow. Even though the mall and that store have been redesigned yet again, Gaytown Mall is still my favorite location to date. I consider it to be my 'mainstore' even though I don't really have a 'mainstore' in the conventional sense.


Other stores in other malls would follow, leading to a total of five stores and one vendor Kiosk over at Impulse Isle. I've met a lot of interesting people and learned a lot of interesting things over these past 7 months (wow, it seems a lot longer sometimes) and I do have another new store in the works, which looks to be a very interesting place. I guess you could say I'm sort of addicted to opening shops; however after this new one opens I believe I'm going to just settle down for a while and concentrate on expanding my line. I'm in no hurry, and the slider combinations are infinite, so I can just focus on making you look as good as possible. See you at the malls!


-Zim