by Burbie52, HSM team writer

One of the pet peeves of many people in Home is that when they buy something, it isn’t always what it was anticipated to be. This is called buyer remorse and I’m sure it has happened to all of us who purchase regularly in Home. I became a very cautious buyer as a result of it, taking the time to actually look at things before I got them, usually after a friend had purchased it. My money is tighter now than it ever was before, so I have to be careful.

Lockwood is a very thoughtful company; they look at what the community wants and try to provide it for us if they can. We wanted the ability to gift others on our friends list, and they gave us that with their gift machine. Now they have taken it a step further and given us a gift shop where we can actually see a lot of the wares they have exclusively in the machine.

When I came into Home this update morning, I was delightfully surprised to find a new Lockwood public space called The Gift Shop. In it were a lot of very nice representations of items found in the gift machine. They have had some similar things at the Lockwood Showcase for quite awhile, but they represented the things in their store. So they decided to give us one to show only the giftable items they have. Right now it has an autumn theme, perfect for Halloween, as the holiday is just around the corner. I am sure when Christmas comes around, there will be items displayed for that season as well as a decor change to suit the period. This is a very smart move on Lockwood’s part as it will lead to less buyers remorse and also give people a way to look at what they are gifting or getting as the case may be.

The space itself is very well rendered, something we have come to expect from the development team at Lockwood. It has a classy look and modern feel to it with clean cut angles and the bright red of the Lockwood lion prominently displayed.  The gift machine itself is sitting right in the center of the room, as it should be since it is the reason for the space. There are wooden structures everywhere, some are pillars that seem to reach to the ceiling and hold some of the lamps overhead. Others are for the many display dais and have  some of the gifts set out on them. There are little design touches that you might not even notice if you don’t take the time to look for them, like the Lockwood symbol faintly embossed on the door where you spawn. There are also either bathroom or dressing room doors as well in this same area, but they are likely meant as decorations only.

There are shelves built into one of the walls that have some of the smaller gifts, like the milkshakes, bonsai trees and gnomes shown in their actual sizes. They have some smaller box-looking wood tables here and there with other gifts on them as well, but the space doesn’t feel cluttered at all. With autumn trees, gourds, sheaves of bundled wheat and wonderfully carved pumpkins around to add to the seasonal feel, this place is going to be a must visit for those who wish to get into the spirit of the season.

Halloween items are the main showcase right now, they have some new ones and also have brought back old favorites as well for those who missed them last year. There is also a mysterious hanger above one of the doors on the far side of the room that makes me wonder about what might be coming here, perhaps a permanent clothing showcase for the items in the machine. Or better yet a dressing room where you could try out some of the clothing before buying it.

There was one other rather odd thing there that gave me pause. I have the ornamental bird cage from the gift machine that someone gave me, but it is only an ornament, with nothing inside. In the gift shop however,  there are several lined up in a display and at least one has a dragon that looks a lot like a miniature form of Salvador the dragon companion in it. It’s unclear what it could mean but it certainly was unexpected.

Lockwood has created a great new space for us here and I believe it will get a lot of traffic as people get into the gift giving season come Christmas time. The people in Home are very generous and being able to see what you get ahead of time is going to be a great boon to the gifting business. Lockwood themselves stated on Twitter that the space itself will be available available until, in their own words, “Christmas time-ish.”

Hopefully if it proves popular enough that it will run far longer than that, and possibly become a permanent staple of the Home environment. This way, the Lockwood showcase, already displaying various brands like Fool Throttle, Iron Fusion, Figment, and Sodium – will not be so taxed by all the content Lockwood continues to develop and gift machine items as well. Lockwood’s gift machine items are sometimes variations of their main store content, but sometimes particularly during the holidays the gift machine stocks items which are only available through the gift machine, sometimes for a very limited time. It is no surprise that the Lockwood tokens dominated the top ten selling list for a very long time.

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