Nov. 30, 2020

Get ready for some new looks in your social media feeds.

Selfie Wrld Sioux Falls, which offers interactive installations designed as backdrops for photographs, is opening a location Tuesday at The Empire Mall .

The hourlong experience takes customers through a series of spaces, including some seasonal ones.

Founder Ashley Wilkerson is a photographer who specialized in weddings – until COVID-19 began canceling them. Short on income and uncertain of the future, she sold her house in Des Moines at the start of pandemic and used the money she made to launch a business.

“I wanted to start a business for some income and wanted to be in a creative field, so I was going to do a photography studio,” Wilkerson said.

Instead, she created something similar to a photography studio – but one that amateurs could use too. She rented space in an aging mall in the Des Moines area with plenty of vacancy – especially as the pandemic forced businesses to close – and got to work.

“We started working on it when everything was shut down. It was the perfect chance to take our time and get it ready,” she said.

The business, which originally was called Selfie Station, opened in June, and “we were really, really busy,” she said. While large markets have attracted similar concepts such as The Museum of Ice Cream and The Color Factory, the middle of the country clearly was ripe for its own social media-worthy destination.

The endeavor took a huge leap forward when a guest took a video of some rooms, shared it on the social media platform TikTok and generated more than 2 million views.

“We literally had people drive across the country,” Wilkerson said.

The national, even international, coverage that ensued also generated interest from business partners. A mall in Miami reached out, and Wilkerson since has opened a location there.

Many people contacted her interested in franchising – including two Sioux Falls women, Janelle Aday and Salena Reimer.

“The Sioux Falls ladies were the most persistent,” Wilkerson said. “I wanted to figure out my store and figure out my next moves, and they just kept asking.”

The Sioux Falls franchisees discovered Selfie Wrld through a friend from Des Moines.

“We both have teenage girls and knew it would be something they would love,” Reimer said. “It is just fun, creative and different than anything that’s out there. We love seeing how happy it makes people, especially during this pandemic.”

The Sioux Falls location is in the former Sears wing of The Empire Mall, which currently is leased by Camping World.

There are a dozen 8-foot-by-8-foot “booths” with walls, which also allow for social distancing, and some perimeter walls have selfie-style features on them.

“We are excited to try to get the community involved by having local artists paint wall displays for us and local businesses furnish booths,” Reimer said.

Their first local artist is Augustana University student Alexa Lammers, who painted two wall displays.

“We use every side of the rooms, so even on the end caps of the rooms we put things,” Wilkerson said. “So they have 12 rooms, but there are a lot more photo opportunities than that.”

Each station also includes a “selfie ring” to hold the phone and a remote to control lighting and a timer.

There are certain standing backdrops, but many change frequently. The Sioux Falls location will open with a handful of holiday-themed experiences.

While the Des Moines location opened with a ball pit exhibit, future ones are on hold because of the pandemic.

“But we still have lots of props – swings you can swing on, different fake food in the diner that looks realistic and phones and all sorts of fun stuff,” Wilkerson said. “We like to put things people can do in the rooms because then kids have fun.”

The rooms are naturally spaced out, but Selfie Wrld limits the overall number of guests and sanitizes constantly, Wilkerson said.

“We require masks but not when you’re actually in the room taking pictures. They’re 8-by-8, so as long as you’re with the people you came with, you’re 8 feet from anyone else.”

While teenage girls tend to be most drawn to the business, the Des Moines location has attracted “a ton of families with kids, along with the teens and bachelorette parties and couples coming in for date nights,” she said.

“In Miami, we get all the models and influencers and Instagram people and TikTokers, and it’s a little different.”

The business uses tickets for admission and is available to book for private parties and team-building events. They’re generally $22 for an adult and $15 for kids age 3 to 15. Early bird discounts are available through Dec. 1. Online purchasing is recommended to reserve spots, but walk-up tickets are an option when there is space available.

Hours in Sioux Falls are 2 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, noon to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Other locations are in the works in markets such as Virginia Beach, Las Vegas, Orlando and Chicago and Scottsdale, Ariz.

For Wilkerson, it has been a whirlwind year. Her father has become her franchise manager, some cousins are opening locations – and she now has a new house under construction.

“It feels like it’s been years, and it’s not even been six months,” she said. “We’ve had a crazy year.”