HAWKING IN THE MARKET--Saminaka Commercial News

***Market Stalls: The temporary Festival Market stalls were a big hit with visitors, and several of the vendors mentioned how pleased they were with their sales. Saminaka will be developing its Anioma sector with Igbo buildings soon, and we've relocated a small open market at the site. Solylence Houston has an African clothing stall, Feretian String a tarot tent, and Fanda Ryba sells drums and other items to support real life Ugandan orphans. We welcome other vendors with a zest for things African! 25 prims for 150 a week--contact Tamsin Barzane

***cacao Main Store: The main store for cacao will be opening this Sunday. This means that Cinnamon Brigade will be phased out, its inventory updated and folded into the new cacao--which means an expansion for Seven Cowries! It's a shuffle all round--some of the stock of African Art at Pangolin Dreams (on Robben Island) will move to Saminaka, as Pangolin Dreams narrows its specialties. Likewise, Tropicality clothing and shoes will in part move to cacao (with updates!) as Tropicality shifts its focus exclusively to beach and resort wear with African flair. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Saminaka/197/170/27

***Kiko Life! Kiko is having a huge sale at her main store--MEN'S SKINS AS WELL AS LADIES! See her ad above; this is your chance to stock up on beautiful skins, as well as support a Saminaka merchant (we want her to produce some ethnic marks and cosmetic scarifications in future, so encourage a sista!) http://slurl.com/secondlife/Kiko%20Life/209/108/1505

HAWKING IN THE MARKET--SAMINAKA COMMERCIAL NEWS

***Market Stalls: The temporary Festival Market stalls were a big hit with visitors, and several of the vendors mentioned how pleased they were with their sales. Saminaka will be developing its Anioma sector with Igbo buildings soon, and we've relocated a small open market at the site. Solylence Houston has an African clothing stall, Feretian String a tarot tent, and Fanda Ryba sells drums and other items to support real life Ugandan orphans. We welcome other vendors with a zest for things African! 25 prims for 150 a week--contact Tamsin Barzane

***cacao Main Store: The main store for cacao will now be developing quickly, since the building is up and the Festival is behind us. This means that Cinnamon Brigade will be phased out, its inventory updated and folded into the new cacao--which means an expansion for Seven Cowries! It's a shuffle all round--some of the stock of African Art at Pangolin Dreams (on Robben Island) will move to Saminaka, as Pangolin Dreams narrows its specialties. Likewise, Tropicality clothing and shoes will in part move to cacao (with updates!) as Tropicality shifts its focus exclusively to beach and resort wear with African flair. Tamsin has been designing like mad--the grand opening will be later this month.

***Kiko Life! Kiko is having a huge sale at her main store--MEN'S SKINS AS WELL AS LADIES! See her ad above; this is your chance to stock up on beautiful skins, as well as support a Saminaka merchant (we want her to produce some ethnic marks and cosmetic scarifications in future, so encourage a sista!)

HAWKING IN THE MARKET--SAMINAKA COMMERCIAL NEWS

***Market Stalls: The temporary Festival Market stalls were a big hit with visitors, and several of the vendors mentioned how pleased they were with their sales. Saminaka will be developing its Anioma sector with Igbo buildings soon, and we're going to relocate a small open market there.

Solylence Houston and Nygela Paris are both taking African clothing stalls, and we welcome other vendors with a zest for things African! 25 prims for 150 a week--contact Tamsin Barzane

***cacao Main Store: The main store for cacao will now be developing quickly, since the building is up and the Festival is behind us. This means that Cinnamon Brigade will be phased out, its inventory updated and folded into the new cacao--which means an expansion for Seven Cowries! It's a shuffle all round--some of the stock of African Art at Pangolin Dreams (on Robben Island) will move to Saminaka, as Pangolin Dreams narrows its specialties. Likewise, Tropicality clothing and shoes will in part move to cacao (with updates!) as Tropicality shifts its focus exclusively to beach and resort wear with African flair.

HAWKING IN THE MARKET--SAMINAKA COMMERCIAL NEWS

***The temporary festival market has been set up for Oct 1 through 4! Maybe you can snatch a stall for your African goods, if you move fast! We will be getting a lot of traffic with the Cantaloupe Treasure Hunt, so you can't lose! Specialty items galore

***Our new cacao mainstore has been built, its exterior a carefully-crafted Hausa building. Some stock is inside, but the festival has postponed its grand opening and new items. Stay tuned, since Cinnamon Brigade and Tropicality will be partially folded into cacao, the latter taking on a new direction....

HAWKING IN THE MARKET

***Oliha has returned from Nigeria, raring to go! His office on Saminaka will be accessible directly from the beachside, beside the new shrine, or through the Adire store. Be on the lookout! Hope to have it open this week

***VENDORS! CALLING ALL AFRICAN MERCHANTS! Saminaka will be holding SL’s first African Festival from the evening of Oct. 1 through Oct. 4. Its many events will include appearances by masqueraders, stiltwalkers and acrobats, as well as a decorated canoe regatta, a durbar with a display of finely attired horses, an African fashion conest, two (or three!) djed parties, a live musical performance, cultural lectures, readings, displays about Nupe culture, the horse in Africa, and Nigerian plants, a sim-wide treasure hunt, the launching of Ananse, an SL group devoted to African and Diaspora scholarship and more! During our last treasure hunt, our numbers were in the thousands. And what’s a festival without a special festival market? The big boat is coming down, and in its place we will have festival stalls, ready for stocking with African merchandise. Do you sell African clothes? Jewelry? Drums? Hair? Skins? Come and take a booth and sit back for a willing audience of strollers! Our prices are low because we really want your participation to add to the atmosphere: 125L a day for 25 prims worth of display, or 300L for the three and a half day period. Contact Tamsin Barzane for details; there will be a limited number of spots available, and we have about five already.

***Thursday, Sept. 10, 6 pm SLT. ADIRE EXTRAORDINAIRE! Adire has been a rather moribund store, but no longer! This Thursday, come and see the impact of Yoruba culture on the diaspora and the world, as Adire premieres its line of orisha ritual dress in African, Brazilian, and Cuban traditions. Visit our Olokun shrine as well, and be on the lookout for expansion in this area.

***Plans afoot in September. Tamsin is in a consolidation and new direction phase. Some aspects are still hush, hush, but be on the lookout for a new superstore on Saminaka, the cacao main store! Some of Tamsin's brands will be folded into this store, but that doesn't mean her off-sim stores will vanish. Kiko Life's cacao store will remain the jewel box it is, and will only carry the latest cacao collection, but Tropicality will change directions somewhat, becoming what its name implies--THE spot of African-inspired beachwear! Most of Pangolin Dreams' African art works will move into Seven Cowries, but Pangolin Dreams will continue to carry some art and artifacts while changing direction somewhat. As for the promised cacao superstore....wait and see! Its exterior will be a spectacular piece of Hausa architecture, filled with products you'll be eager to stock up on! Keep looking here for the grand opening date!

HAWKING IN THE MARKET--SAMINAKA COMMERCIAL NEWS

***Rebranding is occuring bit by bit in all Tamsin Barzane's stores. While they will keep their individual African-inspired directions (cacao as a couture boutique, Cinnamon Brigade for traditional African wear, Tropicality for more casual, sexy outfits), they are all coming under the cacao umbrella, part of the cacao group of companies. This means not only a photography update, but the addition of new prim attachments at skirt and trouser bottoms, etc. Keep checking back! Sales are on with some old items now, and after all the upgrading takes place, new items will be introduced, too!

***A head's up--Adire has never fully been developed as a store--it contains some Yoruba and Yoruba Diaspora items, but not a full range. The art will go back to the art stores. By next week, Adire will be a specialized clothing store catering to followers of the orisha. Everyday devotional dress? We'll have it? Full ritual attire in your orisha's colors, with accessories included? Look no further! And you'll be able to walk through the back of the store into Oliha Yiwama's office, and from there into our Olokun shrine, also in place by next week!

***Keep that head up!!! With Oliha and his entrepreneurial spirit due back, things will be hopping! Expect to hear of all kinds of new ventures at Saminaka!

HAWKING IN THE MARKET--SAMINAKA COMMERCIAL NEWS

***cacao...couture from the chocolate lands, has released its men's line, chock full of prim details and African elements, but in contemporary styles. Come see at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Kiko%20Life/234/114/1506

***On Thursday, some clothing goes on sale at Cinnamon Brigade AND Tropicality! Some current items will be reworked, and new traditional attire will be introduced, all taking place over the next two weeks.

***A small delay, but keep an eye open--soon a new publication at at Slate, Scroll & Stick--Olaudah Equiano's brief history. This remarkable Igbo man traveled much of the globe after being enslaved as a child and buying his own freedom--and his life as writer, speaker and abolitionist was a runaway success in the late 18th c.

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These fashionable men's shoes bear a tiny crocodile charm and are available at

Tropicality at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Saminaka/121/177/31/31http://slurl.com/secondlife/Go/40/204/24

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Saminaka's gone green! Right now these items--the bamboo cloth dress, the shoes with recycled tire soles and bamboo sole, and the hemp jacket, as well as a green cap--are specially priced and available only at the "Show Me the Green" Expo athttp://slurl.com/secondlife/SugarHill%20Retreat/24/35/60 Later the shoes will be at Cinnamon Brigade, the clothes at Tropicality.

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Samburu is a textured leather platform sandal whose heel and platform are beaded--inspired by Kenyan beadwork by the Samburu. You can find these fashionable high heels at Tropicality. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Go/40/204/24

HAWKING IN THE MARKET--SAMINAKA COMMERCIAL NEWS

***Ikorodu Market completed its expansion! Kiko Life and Cinnamon Brigade are now bigger, and the Market has been retextured with the look of old Yoruba turn-of-the-20th century buildings, rusty zinc roofs and all!

***Kiko Life has more beautiful skin lines and a new display! And don't neglect to check men's skins at her main store on Kiko sim! (But patronize us for her ladies' line, so she stays!)

***Cinnamon Brigade is starting to go shoe happy! The move of all traditional items from Tropicality is complete, so men's and women's clothing at CinnB is now all traditional, while that of Tropicality is contemporary and African inspired.

***New small stalls at small prices (with small prim allowances) will be up soon--great for vendors! We'd love a hair vendor, particularly, so if you have a friend....

***Response to The Saminaka Compass is great! As of this morning, our circulation is 98 and growing fast! Bring an advertiser to us and get a week's ad of your own for free! We have a targeted market interested in diaspora life, Africa, history, and culture--an intelligent bunch, with money to drop! Just the folks you'd like to reach.

***MANY MORE great bloggings on our Treasure Hunt!

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New shoes, more shoes! Tamsin's been locking herself in the cobbler's workshop to bring new shoes to both Cinnamon Brigade and Tropicality (and no duplicates--shops have different stock).

Cinnamon Brigade http://slurl.com/secondlife/Saminaka/121/177/31/31 lines for ladies include the ever-increasing willllllllllllld line of African animal skin shoes, as well as our valuable mineral line, with amethyst and malachite in stock.

Tropicality http://slurl.com/secondlife/Go/40/204/24 has a variety of elegant ladies shoes, and our men's slip-ons in ostrich, python, and crocodile skin--each with a small animal ornament.

Men's shoes are mod/transfer, so you ladies can dress up your gents! Ladies shoes are mod/copy for a good fit and ability to put in outfit folders.

Encourage Miss Tam to strive further by buying these modestly-priced items today!

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HAWKING IN THE MARKET--SAMINAKA COMMERCIAL NEWS

**Cinnamon Brigade and Kiko will soon be expanding their Saminaka shops--same locations, just a bigger domain to allow for greater product display and maneuverability. This is predicted to occur within the next week or two

**Cinnamon Brigade and Tropicality (on another sim) will be doing a merchandise transfer. Cinnamon Brigade will show all the traditional African wear, while Tropicality will feature couture Western-style wear from African fabrics. Both will include shoes and men's wear. This transfer begins this week in conjunction with Cinnamon Brigade's overhaul--with new merchandise to be in the stores and completed by next week. You'll like what you see in both spots!

**Saminaka will soon have small market stalls selling jewelry, gestures, and tattoos! A few of these low prim, low priced open shops will be available for rent.

**Midnight Mania boards back! They were briefly gone as the preparations for the Treasure Hunt and the Middle Passage experience were underway, but they're baaaaack! In Cinnamon Brigade, Gidan Magarifi, Tropicality and Pangolin Dreams, from now on these boards will only sell items that have been cycled out of the shops or were once in a treasure hunt--with a few objects promoting a set thrown in from time to time. You know how this works--a free physical slap of the board allows--as long as the quota is made--all slap happy shoppers to get the prize by midnight SLT! Enjoy yours. I will be trying to change them out daily or every other day, depending on rl commitments

**Good initial response--with virtually no publicity, the Saminaka Compass had 46 viewers last week, from places as varied as London, Eastleigh, Sutton, and Manchester in the UK, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Indiana, Alabama, Texas and West Virginia in the U.S., as well as Winnipeg Canada. Stockholm, Athens, Nassau, Bialystok Poland, Tasmania, Brunei, Brazil, and Indonesia. We shall grow, but we're global already!

**A variety of blogs wrote wonderful things about our treasure hunt--one of the most interesting was a German blog whose author unpacks and photographs treasure prizes, so you can see if a hunt is worth your while! Check out http://sl-schnaeppchen.de/index.php?cont=read&set=10

Photo above by J.C. McCall at http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/jmccall/otherafricas/marketwomen.html