FREE STYLE - Recently, the success of Second Life resident Creamy Cooljoke’s Free*Style concept took another leap forward when she opened a brand new shop on the Free Style sim. SLNN sat down with Creamy, the much-admired founder of the Free*Style blog, for - unbelievably - her first ever interview to ask about her success and her new shop.

Creamy’s blog, Free*Style, was one of the first blogs about free items for Second Life residents. In addition to the blog, Free*Style has a group in Second Life. Of her success so far, Creamy commented, ”I kind of started all this for fun and I honestly didn't expect it to go this far. I'm really not an ambitious sort of person; I am so shocked it's come to this. Everything I do is for fun and to be helpful!”

For several months, Free*Style has had a small kiosk presence on the Juicy sim with a tent filled with a variety of freebies and $L1 items. When asked why she had expanded to a new, larger store, Creamy explained that the Juicy location was too small for the large number of designers and people in the Free*Style group who wished to place items out for customers.

“I really love our Juicy location, so we have also kept that, but we were kindly offered a spot on the Free Style sim.” She quickly clarified that she does not own the sim and that the sim name turns out to be a happy coincidence.

The owner of Free Speerit, the first shop on the sim, Desidelia Vella, happened to mention Free*Style to the sim owner, who then offered Free*Style space on the sim. Of Free Speerit, Creamy said, “It's a great store. That is one of the reasons why I accepted a place on the sim - because I knew that Free Speerit would be there. At that point it was only them and us.”

Grand opening festivities for the entire Free Style sim were held on August 25. That event will serve as the opening for the store as well. “I think people enjoyed it too, as lots of stores were involved in it. I was surprised it went so smoothly as I am so disorganized and it was all arranged last minute,” Creamy remarked.

With the extra space available in the new store, we wondered how Creamy will select what items to feature. “It's amazing how it’s all come together actually! I really like that it is a diverse selection, from established designers and people who are new to it. A lot of them are in the Free*Style group and experimenting! And as luck should have it, everything offered is great!” She went on to describe how "all the designers have been so generous too, I was stunned with how many wanted to take part!”

So far, customers are giving positive feedback about the shop. “Every time I am there, I get lots of people saying they love it. Really though, I am surprised, as I'm definitely not a tidy person in RL or SL and everything is sort of randomly placed!” Creamy said, explaining that they will organize the shop into sections as the selection of items grows.