Merchant Archive
Thread: Malls: Thoughts?
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Emotemaster
Fri Mar 25, 2005 5:31 pm
#1
Dimear wrote:
I don't trust mall owners. I always sell from my own shop. Do plenty of business...
I'm insulted 
DesktopSaki
Sat Mar 26, 2005 1:31 am
#3
I'm curious...
1 - On my server, even the small towns seem to all have malls. You can drive into the middle of nowhere and, boom, your swoop gets stuck on a mall sign. Most are in PA halls, some are in houses of varying sizes. (I've seen small houses with 20-25 vendors!)
I've heard other people say that malls are common on their server, too, while still others say that there's only a few malls.
What's it like on your server?
2 - Malls are pretty good ideas, and they offer you a lot of stuff under one roof. It lets many Merchants who want an attractive place to set up shop do so without the lot investment or being responsible for decorating. A PA hall is a fitting place, since they're banding together for mutual support.
But can it become too much of a good thing? I've heard "mall" become synonymous for "shop" with some people. ("Do you know of a mall where I can find some powerups?") Merchant tents go empty with signs pointing to malls; merchants leave mall-less towns for townless malls. Will some servers see the day where the once-bustling downtown full of shops and tents is a ghost town? It's all fair competition, and they're popular because they work, but are they homogonizing Merchanting, or just making it easier, and forming a way for Merchants to band together?
3 - I had one other mall-related question, but I can't remember. 
Jutewr
Sat Mar 26, 2005 1:41 am
#4
DesktopSaki wrote:
I'm curious...
1 - What's it like on your server?
I'd say we have more malls than not on my server. (Corbantis)
2 - Malls are pretty good ideas, and they offer you a lot of stuff under one roof. It lets many Merchants who want an attractive place to set up shop do so without the lot investment or being responsible for decorating. A PA hall is a fitting place, since they're banding together for mutual support.
But can it become too much of a good thing? I've heard "mall" become synonymous for "shop" with some people. ("Do you know of a mall where I can find some powerups?") Merchant tents go empty with signs pointing to malls; merchants leave mall-less towns for townless malls. Will some servers see the day where the once-bustling downtown full of shops and tents is a ghost town? It's all fair competition, and they're popular because they work, but are they homogonizing Merchanting, or just making it easier, and forming a way for Merchants to band together?
Well, I recently left my player city to create my own. I was the owner of the mall in that city. After I left, the mayor decided that he would like it better if there wasn't a mall, but a shopping area, with several tents. I'm not sure how business is going there, but I must say that that area of town looks rather small and sad. I know that part of it was because I was the biggest merchant in town, but I also think that the mall was better. I know that I, at least, like to look at all the other vendors in the same building as the one I stopped to shop at. In a mall, this might be 20 vendors. In a set of merchant tents, that might be 5 vendors, and I won't bother to look in the other tents.
Dimear
Sat Mar 26, 2005 1:43 am
#5
I don't trust mall owners. I always sell from my own shop. Do plenty of business...
DesktopSaki
Sat Mar 26, 2005 3:23 pm
#6
Aynianu wrote:
I am my own mall
I am the half downtown overhead map in my town. I've got vendors in five structures--one in a friend's shop to put it on the overhead, one in the cantina to sell a mate's chef stuff on consignment, the rest are my own, four (was five) of them in my house/shop and two more in tents in our downtown area so they won't be empty.
I've got vendors in five structures--one in a friend's shop to put it on the overhead, one in the cantina to sell a mate's chef stuff on consignment, the rest are my own, four (was five) of them in my house/shop and two more in tents in our downtown area so they won't be empty.Our DE may be returning to action; if so, he and our shipwright/swoop maker will be making up the rest.
We have more merchants than that, you just can't see 'em. We need more Master Merchants.
MBLAST
Sun Mar 27, 2005 1:16 am
#7
I haven't seen a tremendous amount of malls, but they are fairly common. I see personal shops more often then not, though. 
bluejanus
Sun Mar 27, 2005 10:08 pm
#8
I normally see individual shops more in newer cities and shanty-towns outside NPC cities. Since there isn't a separate house for a storefront, it's a pain in the butt to navigate a whole city to figure out where the shops are. And you have to read all the signs too since if the vendor hasn't been loaded yet, you won't see it on the overhead map. Malls make it a lot easier to find shops.
As for me, I've had my own shop for a long time. Course my shop outdates most of the residents in my town including the current mayor. So I'm stuck with it, since that's the waypoint that a lot of people have.
g0b0ts
Tue Mar 29, 2005 3:06 pm
#9
Jutewr wrote:
Well, I recently left my player city to create my own. I was the owner of the mall in that city. After I left, the mayor, ME THE MAYOR NOW SPEAKING, decided that he would like it better if there wasn't a mall, but a shopping area, with several tents. I'm not sure how business is going there, but I must say that that area of town looks rather small and sad. I know that part of it was because I was the biggest merchant in town, but I also think that the mall was better. I know that I, at least, like to look at all the other vendors in the same building as the one I stopped to shop at. In a mall, this might be 20 vendors. In a set of merchant tents, that might be 5 vendors, and I won't bother to look in the other tents.
hehe although she may have been the biggest merchant, i am not sure she was the most selling merchant , but anyways lol...just ragging on you cutie /wink. seriously though, i felt a Tatooine style guildhall made for a very ugly looking mall, and there was no room for a Generic Guildhall (which imo make for the best malls). So, I went with some tents and a small generic house (mini-mall). Still working on it alot and now that this new vendor search is in place, I don't know that my town will ever see a good customer base again.
, but anyways lol...just ragging on you cutie /wink. seriously though, i felt a Tatooine style guildhall made for a very ugly looking mall, and there was no room for a Generic Guildhall (which imo make for the best malls). So, I went with some tents and a small generic house (mini-mall). Still working on it alot and now that this new vendor search is in place, I don't know that my town will ever see a good customer base again.
Jutewr
Wed Mar 30, 2005 12:25 pm
#10
g0b0ts wrote:
Jutewr wrote:
Well, I recently left my player city to create my own. I was the owner of the mall in that city. After I left, the mayor, ME THE MAYOR NOW SPEAKING, decided that he would like it better if there wasn't a mall, but a shopping area, with several tents. I'm not sure how business is going there, but I must say that that area of town looks rather small and sad. I know that part of it was because I was the biggest merchant in town, but I also think that the mall was better. I know that I, at least, like to look at all the other vendors in the same building as the one I stopped to shop at. In a mall, this might be 20 vendors. In a set of merchant tents, that might be 5 vendors, and I won't bother to look in the other tents.
hehe although she may have been the biggest merchant, i am not sure she was the most selling merchant
haha Never thought you'd actually read this. And I never said I was the most selling merchant. But I think the vendor search pretty much killed all malls anyway, so the point is moot.
/flirt 
Parody
Wed Mar 30, 2005 9:00 pm
#11
There are a lot of malls on Intrepid, both in player cities and in the suburbs around the major fixed cities. I would guess that most player cities expecting traffic have a mall. Some are primarily tents. Most player cities expecting traffic have a mix of malls, shops, and tents. However, I would guess that vendors in private shops still outnumber vendors in malls.
Sales-wise, I've done well in my own shop (outside Coronet), in a small mall (our PA hall) in a PvP player city, and in a small mall (our PA hall) outside of Mos Eisley.
Malls are nice for making it easy to find a bunch of vendors. However, too often the vendors are clustered so close together that the only way to be able to find the vendor you want is to look from overhead in third person view.
If I had to move again, I would like to go back to having my own shop. I liked being able to decorate however I wanted.
Sales-wise, I've done well in my own shop (outside Coronet), in a small mall (our PA hall) in a PvP player city, and in a small mall (our PA hall) outside of Mos Eisley.
Malls are nice for making it easy to find a bunch of vendors. However, too often the vendors are clustered so close together that the only way to be able to find the vendor you want is to look from overhead in third person view.
If I had to move again, I would like to go back to having my own shop. I liked being able to decorate however I wanted.
bluejanus
Thu Mar 31, 2005 1:29 am
#12
Jutewr wrote:
g0b0ts wrote:Jutewr wrote:Well, I recently left my player city to create my own. I was the owner of the mall in that city. After I left, the mayor, ME THE MAYOR NOW SPEAKING, decided that he would like it better if there wasn't a mall, but a shopping area, with several tents. I'm not sure how business is going there, but I must say that that area of town looks rather small and sad. I know that part of it was because I was the biggest merchant in town, but I also think that the mall was better. I know that I, at least, like to look at all the other vendors in the same building as the one I stopped to shop at. In a mall, this might be 20 vendors. In a set of merchant tents, that might be 5 vendors, and I won't bother to look in the other tents.hehe although she may have been the biggest merchant, i am not sure she was the most selling merchanthaha Never thought you'd actually read this.
/flirt
Well I think in a few weeks, we'll be able to judge the effects of the search. Any price wars on your server?
Jutewr
Thu Mar 31, 2005 1:57 am
#13
I honestly haven't looked. Don't really care, as I'm not changing my prices, even if I end up being the most expensive merchant on my server.
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