Very Sad News for Blueberry lovers

[Marianne Little]

3 hours ago, Midnoot said:

Come to think of it , blueberry was one of those creators who made everything no mod, made fat packs with colors that wouldn't even completely match the bottom to the top , or the socks to the shoes , etc . For example , one of my favorite shades  was in their fatpack .I bought it and then the " supposed" matching shade fat pack for the bottom. Literally didn't fully match the top. And ofcourse , there was never a shading option in any of the Huds.  Blueberry was overrated . I learned to never support no mod , fat pack selling people ever again through blueberry .

40, 50, 60 colors may seem like a good deal, but there are so few of those that I like. Fatpacks are only worth it when they are on sale.

Using the best colors in the fatpack only is a mean thing to do. Maybe Blueberry could do that and sell and earn a ton of money when it was less competition. Blueberry could set the price as high as she wanted, people still bought it. Now people has more stores to select from.

I have not shopped much Blueberry the last years, I have bought some Saturday sale packs. Much of the Blueberry clothers are in the same style. Low waist jeans, small tops, deep plunging cleavage, open cardigans. Seen it already, have a full inventory of it.

Edited April 17 by Marianne Little

[AmeliaJ08]

23 hours ago, Kyrie Deka said:

Absolutely, or that LL didn't just buy the body and use it for the Senra releases.  Whatever they would have paid, it would have been a quality move on the part of LL and confidence raised.  I thought that before Senra came out and hoped for it, and even after it came out working with it for awhile.  Would have been a delight to see that kind of investment by LL. 

I went to the Blueberry shop yesterday.  Good times, good times...  Prices are such, that I dreamt of a no-support period (temporarily it is hoped!) with half-off the entire store. They've done that before the half-off, so it wouldn't be such a reach hoping for that.  Outfit I have put off gettin forever is now priced at L$2600.  Half off that is still, for me, quite high, but absolutely even full price well worth it (love the BB!) if all works as expected in the box. No support just made me hesitate yet again in case a model or something I need is a little off.  

BB deserves whatever rest they would like, and whatever good things have come their way.  Hard work pays off for many, I am not at all surprised, and I couldn't be happier for them.  Picturing them on a RL beach somewhere thinkin of nothing at all, just nothin at all and having an empty to-do list for the day.

 

 

Oh gosh yes, it would have been a ready made Senra... without all the pain.... and the giant Slink clothing catalogue ready to go...

If the opportunity was never even explored that was a giant waste.

[Blush Bravin]

3 hours ago, Marianne Little said:

Using the best colors in the fatpack only is a mean thing to do. Maybe Blueberry could do that and sell and earn a ton of money when it was less competition. Blueberry could set the price as high as she wanted, people still bought it.

To be fair, before Blueberry I can't remember ever seeing fatpacks for as low as 1200 Lindens. Fatpacks were WAY more expensive. She pretty much got everyone to follow suit because her clothing was so popular at the time. I've always felt rather grateful for her setting the trend for lower priced fatpacks.

[Vanity Fair]

Question: I am following up on the notice which was posted to the Blueberry group as follows, especially the final part, which was not included in the Facebook message which started off this discussion thread:

-----

i fam ❤
I’m very sorry to say that I will be taking a break from SL. Blueberry does not plan to release any new items for the foreseeable future. At some point, I will share an update. Right now I need this time to reflect.
I do consider all of you berries as my forever family and I am eternally grateful for your support and understanding. Thank you for all of your love.  

Please send all questions regarding credit to blueberryxx in a notecard and any other questions to https://rb.gy/5g

-----

The URL in the Blueberry group message I quoted above use a URL shortener service, and it seems to lead to an error page (I assume Mishi's message was too long and got cut off); does anybody know what the correct URL is supposed to be? This might be important for people who want to ask questions. Thanks!

[Stephanie Misfit]

12 hours ago, Vanity Fair said:

Question: I am following up on the notice which was posted to the Blueberry group as follows, especially the final part, which was not included in the Facebook message which started off this discussion thread:

-----

i fam ❤
I’m very sorry to say that I will be taking a break from SL. Blueberry does not plan to release any new items for the foreseeable future. At some point, I will share an update. Right now I need this time to reflect.
I do consider all of you berries as my forever family and I am eternally grateful for your support and understanding. Thank you for all of your love.  

Please send all questions regarding credit to blueberryxx in a notecard and any other questions to https://rb.gy/5g

-----

The URL in the Blueberry group message I quoted above use a URL shortener service, and it seems to lead to an error page (I assume Mishi's message was too long and got cut off); does anybody know what the correct URL is supposed to be? This might be important for people who want to ask questions. Thanks!

Maybe the contact section on the House of Blueberry website? BTW I notice they have removed Second Life from that site.

https://www.houseofblueberry.com/

[Scylla Rhiadra]

9 hours ago, Stephanie Misfit said:

BTW I notice they have removed Second Life from that site.

https://www.houseofblueberry.com/

Interesting, because that does seemingly suggest that dropping SL is in part at least a business decision, rather than a more personal one that (one would have thought) would impact upon the entire operation?

[Persephone Emerald]

47 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Interesting, because that does seemingly suggest that dropping SL is in part at least a business decision, rather than a more personal one that (one would have thought) would impact upon the entire operation?

Her LinkedIn page also says she "Worked in Second Life" (past tense).

I'm disappointed that she decided to abandon SL. I find it hard to believe that her business here was not profitable. Although having to design for so many different mesh bodies must make it more difficult, I think she could have limited production to the top 4 or 5 and still made good money.

Maybe she's decided to work only on platforms that don't have Adult content? Roblox has had controversies too, though.

Are the fees for taking money out of SL too high? How much do those other platforms take out of a creator's earnings?

[Vanity Fair]

11 hours ago, Stephanie Misfit said:

Maybe the contact section on the House of Blueberry website? BTW I notice they have removed Second Life from that site.

https://www.houseofblueberry.com/

Yes, I noticed that the House of Blueberry website barely mentions Second Life AT ALL!

Also, on my blog (see my forum signature for the address), my most recent blogpost is my editorial on this topic, dealing with both specfics (what you should do if/when Blueberry shuts down), and what it means in a bigger-picture way. Check it out! 🙂

[Vanity Fair]

11 hours ago, Stephanie Misfit said:

Maybe the contact section on the House of Blueberry website? BTW I notice they have removed Second Life from that site.

https://www.houseofblueberry.com/

I have updated my blogpost with a link to the contact form on that website, thanks Stephanie!

I must confess that the almost complete lack of mention of SL on the House of Blueberry website is ominous. Perhaps Mishi and her crew looked at all the work required to upgrade all their Lara apparel to LaraX, and decided it's just not worth all the rerigging work? Aside from a few fatpacks under New Releases, and a few Valentine's Day offerings, and one Christmas/winter offering in the TSS section outside the store, there's precious little LaraX apparel.

Another thing: if Blueberry is indeed leaving SL, who will be stepping up to fill the void? I know that both Addams and BumbleBee are busily releasing new LaraX content. Carol's is also busy putting out LaraX stuff.

And a few stoes, e.g. ViSion, are actually adding LaraX to some of their existing offerings, which is nice (e.g. you can request a redelivery of the Mell outfit (jacket, minidress, and boots), and the updated package includes LaraX sizes, which is nice! I wish more designers would do this.

Edited April 23 by Vanity Fair

[Rowan Amore]

Kind of makes sense that she would break away from SL if she's also selling in Roblox.   People know SL is an adult world.  I'd probably do the same to avoid any backlash from Roblox players parents.  I wouldn't be surprised at all if she's already rebranded in SL and we just aren't aware which store it is.  Honestly, there's a few stores recently that I thought were BBish enough to be her.  

BumbleBee   BlueBerry?  Coincidence?

[Persephone Emerald]

6 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

Kind of makes sense that she would break away from SL if she's also selling in Roblox.   People know SL is an adult world.  I'd probably do the same to avoid any backlash from Roblox players parents.  I wouldn't be surprised at all if she's already rebranded in SL and we just aren't aware which store it is.  Honestly, there's a few stores recently that I thought were BBish enough to be her.  

BumbleBee   BlueBerry?  Coincidence?

The quality of clothing is not the same. 

Rebranding would be a mistake, because she would lose her customer base and have to start all over. I've seen this happen multiple times with other stores.

I don't think there are many SL clothing stores that come close to the combination of quality mesh clothing, affordable prices, a large stock for many mesh body sizes, and responsive CSRs that Blueberry has.

[Orwar]

2 hours ago, Persephone Emerald said:

Although having to design for so many different mesh bodies must make it more difficult, I think she could have limited production to the top 4 or 5 and still made good money.

   They already did. Their last releases were just for Lara/LaraX, Legacy, Reborn, and Kupra (although with petite/perky/waifu options), but that part doesn't make it 'more difficult', it adds a bit of time (although not a huge amount of time in the grand scheme of things). As for whether it's been profitable lately or how SL compares to Roblox (or any other platforms) is something we can only speculate about. 

   Not even a month ago, they released their new 'colour packs guide for 2024', which makes it seem as if their decision to pull back from SL came quite suddenly. I highly doubt 'too many bodies' was it.

[Stephanie Misfit]

44 minutes ago, Orwar said:

   They already did. Their last releases were just for Lara/LaraX, Legacy, Reborn, and Kupra (although with petite/perky/waifu options), but that part doesn't make it 'more difficult', it adds a bit of time (although not a huge amount of time in the grand scheme of things). As for whether it's been profitable lately or how SL compares to Roblox (or any other platforms) is something we can only speculate about. 

   Not even a month ago, they released their new 'colour packs guide for 2024', which makes it seem as if their decision to pull back from SL came quite suddenly. I highly doubt 'too many bodies' was it.

The designer for Blueberry never did her own rigging anyway, that was all outsourced, and as a company reported to be earning millions of dollars, outsourcing would not be a barrier.

[Rowan Amore]

2 hours ago, Persephone Emerald said:

The quality of clothing is not the same. 

Rebranding would be a mistake, because she would lose her customer base and have to start all over. I've seen this happen multiple times with other stores.

I don't think there are many SL clothing stores that come close to the combination of quality mesh clothing, affordable prices, a large stock for many mesh body sizes, and responsive CSRs that Blueberry has.

She's already losing her customer base on SL but keeping it on Roblox.  Perhaps it's more lucrative there right now and any time needed to rebuild here is fine.

[Vanity Fair]

4 hours ago, Rowan Amore said:

Kind of makes sense that she would break away from SL if she's also selling in Roblox.   People know SL is an adult world.  I'd probably do the same to avoid any backlash from Roblox players parents.  I wouldn't be surprised at all if she's already rebranded in SL and we just aren't aware which store it is.  Honestly, there's a few stores recently that I thought were BBish enough to be her.  

BumbleBee   BlueBerry?  Coincidence?

Ooh, I *like* this theory! And I have often thought that BumbleBee is eerily similar to Blueberry (albeit with a more muted colour palette).

[Vanity Fair]

3 hours ago, Persephone Emerald said:

The quality of clothing is not the same. 

Rebranding would be a mistake, because she would lose her customer base and have to start all over. I've seen this happen multiple times with other stores.

I don't think there are many SL clothing stores that come close to the combination of quality mesh clothing, affordable prices, a large stock for many mesh body sizes, and responsive CSRs that Blueberry has.

I gotta say, one example of a newer store that is just killing it with mesh body support is Carol's Store. I like the fact that I can buy an outfit and it comes in both Inithium Khara and Maitreya LaraX mesh body sizes (which are the only bodies Vanity Fair wears nowadays). I can kill two birds with one stone!

[Persephone Emerald]

22 minutes ago, Vanity Fair said:

I gotta say, one example of a newer store that is just killing it with mesh body support is Carol's Store. I like the fact that I can buy an outfit and it comes in both Inithium Khara and Maitreya LaraX mesh body sizes (which are the only bodies Vanity Fair wears nowadays). I can kill two birds with one stone!

I highly recommend Carol's Store for any of the newer mesh bodies that are hard to find clothes for (Erika, LaraX,). The prices are reasonable and there is occasionally group store credit. There are not a huge amount of clothes yet, but the clothes they have are not trashy looking or the same meshes that half the other stores use and the creator keeps coming out with new items nearly every week. Demo first of course. (Some of the newer white items are more like light grey.)

[Dorientje Woller]

9 hours ago, Vanity Fair said:

Ooh, I *like* this theory! And I have often thought that BumbleBee is eerily similar to Blueberry (albeit with a more muted colour palette).

And why do I have the feeling that BumbleBee is more linked to Addams?

[Anna Nova]

1 hour ago, Dorientje Woller said:

And why do I have the feeling that BumbleBee is more linked to Addams?

I hadn't visited BumbleBee before today, and did so because of the attention here.  Nice clothes sure, but I agree they are copying some elements of both BlueBerry and Addams.  It is a pretty basic store (thank goodness).  The prices seem very in line with Addams/Blueberry.  I didn't, in the end, buy anything, as nothing jumped out as being better that what I already got, but I will monitor it as a replacement for Blueberry in the future.

 

[Donovan Michalski]

On 4/23/2024 at 11:10 AM, Vanity Fair said:

Yes, I noticed that the House of Blueberry website barely mentions Second Life AT ALL!

Also, on my blog (see my forum signature for the address), my most recent blogpost is my editorial on this topic, dealing with both specfics (what you should do if/when Blueberry shuts down), and what it means in a bigger-picture way. Check it out! 🙂

Side note - it took me until today to realize that the forums here have a 'signature' option.  I never had it enabled in my account settings here until I saw this comment and went looking for it.

Then I come back here, see your forum signature, and say "Oh, THAT'S who you are."  🤣

[Vanity Fair]

1 hour ago, Donovan Michalski said:

Side note - it took me until today to realize that the forums here have a 'signature' option.  I never had it enabled in my account settings here until I saw this comment and went looking for it.

Then I come back here, see your forum signature, and say "Oh, THAT'S who you are."  🤣

Don't feel bad...I didn't know about it, either, until somebody told me that you could set up a signature line!

[Thecla]

There's only so much time in the day and despite likely having numerous employees, managing business on multiple platforms is exhausting. I had a clothing and accessories store in Gor back when it was enormous that in a good month did 1mm lindens and I'm sure Blueberry does exponentially more. Keeping up with new products, various vendors, partnerships, events etc. was totally exhausting. I ended up pitching the whole business. While I doubt she's doing that, I am sure she's mulling over the best use of her precious time.

It sounds like it's a personal issue (use of the word reflect), but could just as well be taking time to take stock of the breadth of the brand's activities and make some decisions about how to grow or where to focus.

I sincerely doubt the SL economy will take any sort of hit. While a very large and successful store, Blueberry is overall just a drop in the bucket in terms of clothing. I've not shopped there in years (just a matter of taste) nor seen them prominently at events and there are a zillion other quality clothes makers out there.

[Mr Amore]

SL's population has been declining over the years, it sits at around 200,000 daily active users. Roblox is growing and claims to have 70 million users daily.

 

Last week Roblox received a major update for creators. I don't use the platform personally, so in SL terms it seems like they're updating from system layers to mesh clothing. The Blueberry website also appears to be marketing their 'mesh' clothing for Roblox avatars.

 

There may just be a human element to it all, after being a popular creator for so many years, there's an expectation to keep on delivering high quality products. Eventually anyone needs a break from it.

[vahiti Yiwama]

secondlife:///app/agent/cb14d676-fd8f-4b2e-bea8-4c71c2dc00d8/about

Blueberry Store is Closing - The Store, MP, and Redelivery terminals will remain active for a while, however you must leave me a NC for support. I will get back to you ASAP!

Blueberry Is Closing - Please message me with any questions or issues and I will get back to you asap!

We are always happy to help.

♥ Blueberry Facebook
♥ My Personal Facebook
♥ Flickr
♥ Marketplace

[Omegaslayer]

wow the conspiracy theories here are insane, people have been saying sl is going to close soon for years and yet here we all still are. For whatever reason blueberry is taking a step back is her own reason. There are tons of stores in second life that sell clothes like blueberry does, it is a tough thing to keep going and to keep up with the changing trends. And trends have altered to the point people want different types of clothing, and other stores have now given us that. Blueberry is no longer the groundbreaking store it was, we have so many other stores now like it and we should be thankful to blueberry for paving the way for those stores. I hope she is happy in whatever she is doing.