SLENTRE.COM

By Avarie Parker

SLENTRE.COM is proud to list Inspiration Cove as one of it’s valued sponsors. The beautifully landscaped island is home to a tropically themed shopping center, garden area, as well as an exotic and romantic lagoon with brightly colored birds and flowers.

Visitors to Inspiration Cove can also stop by the offices of The Metaverse Journal, The SOUL Lounge, and the Baobab Academy. Be sure to show your support by clicking on the Inspiration Cove ad in the sidebar and visiting the SL Local. Their advertising dollars help fund SLENTRE’s most popular columns such as the SLENTRE Traffic Report and Real Life In Second Life. We are still looking for new sponsors to support our efforts and we’re currently running an advertising special: Buy One Month, Get One Free! All details can be found here: http://www.slentre.com/advertise-slentrecom-sponsorship-opportunities/

Kat Claxton, Inspiration Cove owner, recently answered our questions:

1) Who is the owner of Inspiration Cove? How long has IC been around?

Inspiration Cove is currently owned and managed by myself, Kat Claxton. I am the President of Encore Design Group.  EDG originally purchased the region about a year ago in order to stage builds for clients.  Recently it was decided to use the region to provide retail space for content creators and EDG partners and the island was remodeled to facilitate that last July.

2) What’s the latest news about IC? Any cool new builds? What’s the latest?

We recently decided to open the island up to street musicians (buskers) and performers.  We have 2 locations on the island that will facilitate voice performances and they are available 24/7 for anyone who wants to use them.

We also have some VERY big news coming out this summer but due to a non-disclosure agreement, you will have to wait until then to hear about it.  Stay tuned!

3) What are IC benefits for Second Life users?

One thing that makes IC stand apart from other shopping areas in Second Life is the amount of detail that has gone into creating this beautiful and fun place to browse.  The emphasis is more on atmosphere and ambience than on cramming in merchants and because of that, the merchants get large, beautiful stores for their business.  I believe that by making the island more about environment than money, the island can actually live up to it’s name and inspire our visitors.

4) What types of things can one do in IC?

While shopping is a large part of what one does at Inspiration Cove, there are many other opportunities that that don’t actually involve shopping.  During the design of the island, it was decided that we needed to have beautiful little pockets where visitors could relax and enjoy the environment; so you will find things like a place to kick back in the lagoon, or you can go on a sky picnic in any setting you like with the magic picnic basket.  EDG partner Chan Dejavu runs the Baobab Academy at Inspiration Cove.  It is an amazing place to learn about the SL African-American community, and she frequently hosts classes and discussions there.  Chan also owns and runs the SOUL Lounge, where you can find musicians and DJs performing, and her events are known for being pretty lively and exciting.  Occasionally, you can also find other musicians at IC – either on the street corner or up in the sky stage.

As for the actual shopping, we have some talented and original merchants in Inspiration Cove and they all offer a really great variety of quality merchandise.  There are frequently scheduled promotions and sales, and visitors will find a community bulletin board near the main entrance where they can find out all about upcoming events.

5) Why would residents want to keep coming back?

At Inspiration Cove we are fortunate to be blessed with very professional and involved merchants and they are really great about keeping their product lines updated and constantly evolving.  I am often thrilled to visit one of the shops and find all sorts of new items and I believe shoppers will appreciate being able to come back and see new merchandise being offered in their favorite stores.  They are also constantly brainstorming ideas for fun promotions, and you never know when you’ll find a scavenger hunt or sidewalk sale going on.

Another reason to keep coming back is the non-shopping related events.  As an artist and the spouse of one of SL’s finest musicians (Zak Claxton), I have made a strong personal commitment to help promote art and music in SL, so return visitors will often find events involving musicians and artistic displays.

6) Who currently frequents IC? Some demographics here would be great; age, gender, location, etc.

I wish I could provide detailed specifics, but due to the diversity of what we offer, I find that we have all kinds of visitors.  Culturally, Chan Dejavu’s club and school have a very strong African-American following, but we also have an Australian-based organization located on the island that draws many of the “down under” crowd.  A few of our merchants offer goth and Wiccan merchandise – some sell apparel and personal items – but the majority of our merchants sell all manner of home and garden items so it would be really difficult to quantify the customers themselves as being from any particular SL community.  But this is precisely what makes Inspiration Cove a great place to visit – you never know who you’ll meet here.