Westside Cybershopping: Online merchants like setting up...

Westside Cybershopping: Online merchants like setting up shop on the World Wide Web in part because they don’t have to maintain the expense of an actual store. But Virtual Emporium (https://www.vemporium.com) is counting on a storefront on Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade to introduce cybershopping to the retail masses.

President and Chief Executive Tuck Rickards says the 2,500-square-foot store, which opened Thursday, offers a collection of merchandise that would fill a 200,000-square-foot mall. The idea is to offer a comfortable, convenient alternative to fighting crowds in stores--even for those who don’t know what it means to point and click.

“It’s a perfect marriage of the traditional retail shopping experience and online shopping,” gushes Eileen Caetano-Isola, marketing manager for Garden Escape (https://www.garden.com), one of the online retailers accessible through Virtual Emporium.

The store is divided into home, apparel, entertainment, children’s and seasonal departments, and about two dozen PCs with super-fast T-1 Internet connections are sprinkled throughout the shop. “Virtual specialists” help neophytes maneuver their way around the 80 merchant sites, which range from Virtual Vineyards (https://www.virtualvin.com) to Travelocity (https://www.travelocity.com).

Web surfers will also be able to shop from home by logging on to the Virtual Emporium site when it becomes fully operational in about three weeks. Kiosks will also be installed at the Encino Marketplace and at UCLA’s student center in a few weeks.

“It’s an intriguing way of getting people online,” said Cyndy Ains-worth, director of marketing for Virtual Vineyards., where sales are growing 20% a month.

Online shopping malls, like America’s Choice Mall (https://www.choicemall.com) and CyberSoup (https://www.cybersoup.com), have been springing up on the Web in recent months. And cybercafes and shops such as the World Wide Web Store (https://www.thewwwstore.com) in Encino have offered Internet access in a retail setting. But Rickards claims Virtual Emporium is the first store dedicated exclusively to online shopping.

Shoppers use Virtual Emporium’s computers at no charge, and the store does not earn any commission on cyberpurchases made at the store or through its gateway Web site. Virtual Emporium will ring up some sales on T-shirts and other low-cost items available in the store, but the bulk of the company’s revenue is expected to come through sponsorship fees paid by merchants in exchange for feedback from Virtual Emporium customers.

That business model attracted $1 million in private funds to launch the venture, and a second round of financing will begin soon. Rickards said he hopes to open Virtual Emporiums throughout the country, starting with four new markets by the end of next year.