- Hypergrid Business - https://www.hypergridbusiness.com -

Crystal Delights expands from SL to physical store front

Second Life adult toy merchant Crystal Delights [1] has opened its first retail outlet, in Port Townsend, Washington, and plans to expand into non-adult product lines and use Second Life to help market the non-adult products, company co-founder Andrew Schwartz told Hypergrid Business.

“We do not use Second Life currently for market testing, but we still have plans to renew our use of Second Life for brand name marketing,” said Schwartz.

Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting ceremony. (Image courtesy Crystal Delights.) [2]
Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting ceremony. (Image courtesy Crystal Delights.)

The company has been selling virtual adult glass toy products to avatars at Second Life since 2008 and selling real life products  online since 2010.

Opening a real life store allows the company to expand revenue streams, said Schwartz, although restrictions advanced by Second Life for adult commerce products was also part of the reason, according to a company blog post [3].

“It was driven by the struggles we started having making Second Life work financially for us — this was back in 2008-2010 — and we need to start looking at other ways of generating revenue,” said Schwartz.

(Image courtesy Crystal Delights.) [4]
The new retail stores features many non-adult products. (Image courtesy Crystal Delights.)