The Sew Pretty Boutique
I'm finally finished with Lucy Wells and her fun-filled week 4! It took me longer than I anticipated because I went out of town this weekend (which I was not expecting to do, but you know how it goes). But I finally got to sit down edit these photos for Lucy's business update. She started a clothing boutique, and I have to say that it was incredibly fun to play. My favorite business so far!
This is the outside of the building. The new boutique is located on Main Street, sandwiched between Harmony Clock's pet shop and Harvey Dingle's night club. Originally the two-story blue building was meant to be Celia Gates' bakery, and the three story brick building was going to be Lucy's clothing store. But I changed my mind on that while playing Celia's bakery this round and decided to keep her bakery as a free-standing shop not on Main Street.
I'm really glad I made that decision, because Lucy ended up tearing down the inside walls and using both buildings for her clothing store. She needed the extra space for sure!
The Sew Pretty Boutique has 3 floors, the top floor being a small sewing room for Lucy and her live-in boyfriend, Serdar. So these pictures are of the 1st floor. All merchandise on this floor is on clothing racks and tables; there are also two fitting rooms, although I never saw anyone use them the entire week. The cash register and elevator are also down here, along with an expensive jewelry display which actually sells quite well.
Also, as a side note...I felt lazy in the decorating department and just used the generic H&M items (the ones that don't say "H&M" all over them). I was surprised but I actually love the finished product.
The second floor is more of the same merchandise, except for a small corner where Lucy and Serdar keep their non-clothing items. Teddy bears, curtains, potholders, quilts...you name it! I forgot to get a picture of it with all of its items stocked, but you get the idea! These items sell like crazy, it's almost impossible to keep them stocked anyway.
The top floor is teeny tiny. There are 2 rooms, one is a break room which I forgot to get a picture of; but it's nothing exciting. The other room only fits 2 sewing machines in it, one for Lucy and one for Serdar.
At the start of the week, Lucy and Serdar tried to run the business with just the 2 of them working it. Lucy was trying to sew enough things to keep the shelves filled and also trying to be the cashier. Serdar tried his hand at sales, but he really wasn't very good at it. The customers didn't like him; can't imagine why...
Serdar's sales tactic: "Who desperately needs a makeover? This guy!"
So they started out by hiring two employees (the guys in white polos and jeans). Business did much better after hiring some help. But as the boutique got higher in rank, more customers starting coming in and once again Lucy and Serdar were having very little time to sew because they were needed on the sales floor. So they hired two more employees. A stock-boy and a cashier:
Ella Clock applied for the cashier position and Serdar hired her on the spot. She has no experience, but what can I say...I thought it would be the perfect place for her to work after-school and on weekends. I'm not sure if this breaks the BaCC rules, but since I won't be following them soon anyway, oh well!
Like I said, Ella had no experience at cashiering, so she was awfully slow at first. The customers were impatient and often made mean faces at her, although they all thought she was a nice girl and genuinely liked her...even though she was slower than mud. But she was doing her best and it didn't take long for her to get better at it. By the end of the week, she had a gold badge in register, and she was given a raise as a reward!
Random picture of a very happy customer. This witch is so cute...I'm going to have to find someone to marry her and make her playable!
With 2 salesmen, 1 stock-boy, and 1 cashier, Lucy and Serdar finally had time to get back to sewing! They couldn't sew fast enough to keep things on the shelves at first. But by the end of the week, Lucy had a gold badge in sewing and Serdar had a silver. They even made a couple of custom outfits for Lucy to wear.
Business was booming, and the Sew Pretty Boutique achieved rank 10 before the week was even over. This is the fastest rank 10 I've ever gotten! And honestly, it was the most fun I've had playing a business in a long time.
Lucy and Serdar took a break from sewing to celebrate receiving rank 10. They danced together right there in the middle of their store!
So that is the last update for week 4. Next up, I'm going to give a sneak peak at who the new residents will be at the start of week 5. Then I'll post a discussion about my new "guidelines" for play, since I won't be strictly following the BaCC rules anymore. So stay tuned!