In The Sims 2 , The Sims 3 Store and The Sims 4, a business is a player-made, player-controlled shop in which, depending on the business type, practically any item can be sold or various services can be provided. This is the primary theme The Sims 2: Open for Business and The Sims 4: Businesses & Hobbies, as well as one of the primary themes in The Sims 4: Get to Work and is one of the more complex systems of the game.
Sims using the main register for their businesses (Top is The Sims 2, bottom is The Sims 4)
The Sims 2: Open For Business[]
The notification when a Sim buys a community lot.
In The Sims 2: Open for Business, Sims can use the phone or computer to either start a business at home or buy a community lot. If University is installed, businesses cannot be located in college sub-neighborhoods, though young adult can own community lots in other areas. A must have item for any business is the open/closed sign. In addition to allowing members of the owner's household to open and close the business, it allows them to call in employees and to send them home. When Sims choose which community lot to travel to, lots owned by a household member will be marked with a small green sign. While visiting a lot owned by a household member, Sims will be able to do things such as restock the shelves, purchase items at wholesale, hire employees, be the cashier, etc.
Players can send playable Sims to community lot businesses owned by other Sims. If this is done, autonomous versions of the owner, manager (if any), and employees (if any) will appear. This can only be done if no members of the owner's household were on that lot when it was last saved. If a player wants to use a community lot business in that way, and that business has a cash register, the player should assign an employee to be cashier, otherwise the register will be unstaffed when playable Sims are sent there.
Doors on a business lot will have an extra lock option, which is the ability to lock the door so that only household members and employees will be able to use it.
Selling or Transferring a business[]
The owner of a home business cannot transfer ownership to another Sim, even if that Sim is another household member. If the owner dies or moves out, ownership will automatically be transferred to an eligible household member, if there is one. If there isn't, the business will be dissolved.
The deed to a community lot business can be sold back to the community, or placed on sale. It can also be transferred to another household member. If Seasons or later is installed, the deed to a community lot can be given as a gift, as it is in the owner's inventory. However, transferring a deed in this way will not successfully transfer ownership of the lot.
If a community lot business is transferred in any way other than being sold back to the community, its employees, customer loyalty, and business rank go with it. However, business perks do not travel with the deed.
Types of businesses[]
Businesses can be divided into three basic types. Most businesses are shops, which sell goods and services, but there are also venues, which give Sims the opportunity to fill various motives on a "pay-to-stay" basis. Sims can also own restaurants, which are considered a third type of business.
Shops[]
Shops can sell practically any object that is available in Buy mode. One of the tools available in the upper right hand corner of the screen is the Wholesale Mode Toggle, which allows the owner to buy at a discount. When this toggle is active, Buy mode objects which can be sold will have a bright yellow background, and the price shown will be the wholesale price. Objects bought in wholesale mode are automatically marked as being for sale. Some objects which will not normally appear in Buy mode while on an owned community lot can still be accessed and placed on sale by using the Wholesale Mode Toggle. Once an item has been sold, it can be restocked at its current wholesale price.
With Nightlife, shops on community lots can sell cars that are placed on the Show My Ride Display by Extreme Cars, if the lot is large enough to hold it.
Shops can also sell Sim-made items, such as paintings. The most obvious examples of this are crafted items made on workbenches: flower arrangements, toys, and robots. If FreeTime is also installed, objects made on the pottery and sewing benches can be sold. With FreeTime, it's even possible to sell restored cars. If Apartment Life is installed, potions and other witch-made items can be sold as well.
Shops can sell things such as clothing, magazines, computer/video games, personal electronics, and groceries. If Seasons is also installed, fish and produce can be sold. If Pets is also installed, shops can sell pets. With Apartment Life installed, reagents and other items for witches can be sold as well. The various potions can be placed on sale, and once sold, can be restocked in the same way as Buy mode objects.
More expensive objects have the highest potential profits when sold. The most valuable wholesale items in the game, in ascending order, are the Temple of Jumbok IV, the Aquabox "60 Gallons of Awesome" Aquarium, the helicopter, the large skating rinks, and the pirate ship. Of these, the aquarium is the most practical because it is far smaller.
Shops can sell services such as makeovers. With Bon Voyage, a shop that has the massage table can sell massages.
Deeds to other lots can also be sold in a business. If Bon Voyage is installed, deeds to vacation homes can also be marked for sale.
The Bluewater Village district has pre-made examples of many different types of shops, some of which are already owned.
Venues[]
Venues are places, such as clubs and arcades, which sell the opportunity to satisfy motives. This is done through the Electrono-Ticket Machine, which allows the owner to charge Sims for staying on the lot. Once the owner, or a member of the owner's household, has set a price and decided to start charging, potential customers will gather at the Electrono-Ticket Machine, and consider whether or not they want to come in. This works like making a sale in a shop, except that what is being sold is the idea of staying on the lot for a while. Once the sale is made, the customer will go to the ticket machine, take a ticket, and enter the venue. While there, they will periodically be charged the ticket price.
As with selling items in shops, setting the ticket price higher means that tickets will be harder to sell.
If a venue has a kitchen with a stove, it is best to put it behind doors that only household members and employees can use. Otherwise, hungry customers will use the kitchen, and will sometimes leave food on the stove or in the oven. This can lead to burned food or even a fire. If a player wants to have a venue serve food, one way is to have a household member make it, then enter Buy mode and place the food outside of the kitchen area. When customers get hungry enough, they will serve themselves.
Restaurant[]
Customers[]
Customers who visit a business will earn or lose customer loyalty stars based on positive or negative interactions and experiences. Acquiring customer loyalty stars causes a business's rank to increase, which opens up new business perks.
Reviews and awards[]
Businesses can be randomly reviewed by special reviewer NPCs. Reviewers pose as normal customers in a business, browsing or partaking in the business's services, often while jotting down notes in a notebook. After some time in the business, a reviewer will talk to the owner or manager and reveal the outcome of their review.
Businesses can either receive a good review or a bad review. Business owners will often roll a want for a good review, and/or roll a fear of having a bad review. The outcome of a review has an impact on the popularity of a Sim's business; a good review will bring in more customers, while a bad review will reduce the number of customers.
Businesses can receive a special "Best of the Best" award for an exceptionally good review; this award comes with a boost in customer traffic, and also gives the business owner a special plaque that can be placed in the business, impressing customers who stop to look at it.
Notes[]
An employee whose face is glitched
- Since a business will either be on a Sim's home lot, or on an owned community lot that has some aspects of a home lot, Sims will frequently want to fulfill their needs through free will actions. If the owners of a business take an active role in running it, one of the player's biggest challenges may be keeping them "on task".
- If a Sim owns a community lot business, when the employees arrive there is a glitch that may cause all their facial features to change to a random default face template, and no eyebrows. This also sometimes happens if the player sets a new uniform for the employees and they change into the work clothes.
- If a Sim visits an owned community lot, the 'Tip' interaction is available when clicking on the business lot owner.[confirmation needed]
The Sims 3[]
Savvy Seller's Collection[]
The full set of objects known to be part of the set (except the counter, which is not in the set).
With the Midnight Hollow downloadable world comes from the Savvy Seller's Collection that is an included premium content set. It allows the player to set up and run item shops on any type of lot, even if neither of the Sims of the households owns the establishment. The set that features a system of managing the store which is much more limited and different from other games where the game mechanic is present.
Selling[]
Instead of being marked with a tag tool or clicking on the items to be set for sale, objects are required to be placed on/above/beside special-purpose rugs, on a special-purpose Savvy Seller's pedestal, or on a special-purpose shelf to be marked for sale. Additionally, cars have their own special-purpose parking spot where they can be placed to be put for sale. Another difference in the game mechanics, the cash register (that comes with the set) isn't required for the established store to function. Sims can just purchase things straight from the display.
The type of items that can be sold are only the ones that can be purchased from Buy/Build mode. Collectibles usually cannot be sold, while a glitch makes alchemy potions[TS3:SN] be worth §0 when trying to sell them through Savvy Seller mechanisms.
With the restocking feature being absent, the stuff that are for sale remain put after they been bought and don't require any fees from the owner. Customers don't have a determining meter over considering the choice of either taking or skipping the offer, therefore they instantly purchase the items without contemplating or having to be convinced.
Cash register[]
With the cash register, useful interactions are offered to the player for further customization of managing their Sim's store. These include setting of the opening and closing hours of the lot, provided the lot assignment itself doesn't limit it, and the settings are fewer than what the door allows (See the "Door" section below). Clicking on the register allows showing the performance of sales. As the customer, a Sim can purchase the goods that are on display from the cash registers by the player's command.
NPC staffers that are hired to staff the cash register will take a charge of §25. They can quit on the spot (and take the household's remaining money) if the household has too little money to pay their salary. For instance, §6 is treated as too little.
Door[]
Savvy Seller's Shop Door (1sq wide) allows setting detailed opening hours, being able to choose any hour to open or close the shop. In comparison, the cash register alone only allows choosing between 08-18, 11-21, and 15-01.
Baker's Bazaar Collection[]
The Baker's Bazaar Collection objects, e.g. the objects in Deliciously Indulgent Bakery that have sales functions.
The "Deliciously Indulgent Bakery" Store set comes with the Baker's Bazaar Collection, which functions as a slightly simplified version of Savvy Seller's Collection designed with bake sales in mind. They differ on only a few key points:
- Only food items can be sold in the Baker's Bazaar product spots. For instance, even if a soccer ball[TS3:S] fits in a slot on the Delightful Dessert Display and Rustic Bakery Rack, the game will not treat them as being available to purchase.
- The two Baker's Bazaar displays double as refrigerators, in regards to keeping their food items from spoiling.
- The Baker's Bazaar Collection does not use special doors that would have set custom opening hours.
The Sims 4[]
A clothing retail shop in The Sims 4: Get to Work
Businesses appear in multiple packs for The Sims 4:
| Icon | Business | Service | Pack |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Retail | Sell almost any object, items, foods, and clothes |  |
|
Restaurants | Provide food and drinks in different courses with special ambience |  |
|
Vet Clinic | Give healthcare to Cats & Dogs and perform surgeries |  |
|
Residential Rental | Own residential lots to rent out units to tenants |  |
|
Small Business | Use kiosks and whiteboards to give paid services as well as use displays to sell craftables and small objects |  |
Sims can buy extra lots or existing business lots to have their businesses as well as all existing businesses allow for the use of hiring employees or extra help that can operate on behalf of the owner, except for Residential Rentals.
When Sims own businesses, they are owned by the household itself rather than individual Sims and thus every Sim of the household holds access to the same interactions to owning and managing a business as the Sim who started the business. However, small businesses are not owned by the household and are instead earned by individual Sims and so if a Sim wants friends or family to manage the business, it must be passed down to them.
Owned Business Panel[]
With any of the above-mentioned packs installed, the UI gains an additional button for managing stores to the far right next to the needs. From this panel players can purchase, manage, and sell their businesses using the owned business panel.
The Retail Panel while the store is closed. The large button on the bottom left is the button to open the store for business.
For the example showcase, this is what it looks like to manage a retail business from The Sims 4: Get to Work. The primary button on the panel, located at the bottom left, is to open and close the store.
When the store is closed, players can change the price markup (this adds a percentage of money added onto the normal objects price range), can see their total items sold, outgoing costs (this is if the Sim has bought advertisements) and net profit (overall profit from selling, restocking and employee wage).
Players can also transfer retail funds from the household to the retail lot as each business maintains its own funds. Players can also access Retail Perks, manage employees (hiring, firing and seeing employees skills), manage employees outfits, and the final button on the retail panel is to sell the store.
When the store is open most buttons appear on display except players cannot change the price markup while open as well as sell the store. Another button appears in the panel which is the view financial report which shows a more detailed window for the stores profits of income and expenditures.
Should players want to switch between their business types, each business has its own icon tab, and underneath the tabs is a drop down menu for switching the panel between the businesses as well as buying a new business for the business type.
Retail[]
After a Sim purchases a residential or vacant lot for their retail business, they will travel to that lot and players will have to input fund for the retail lot before continuing on. While they are on the retail lot, players can utilize the business panel to operate their business but they can use the register.
Register[]
The more immersive way to manage a retail store is to use the register which is the only required object to have a retail lot.
This has most of the options that come with the retail business panel but has the added features of purchasing advertising for short-term or long-term which can help bring in more customers.
Another option with the register is that the player can select to have all objects on sale to display a red price tag icon. This is helpful to find out if the player missed out on an object to put up for sale.
Customers[]
Customers will enter the lot and walk around before going to an object that has been tagged as for sale or a mannequin with outfitted clothes.
When viewing objects for sale, a bar above their head that showcases their interest to buy, their interest will rise overtime as they keep viewing the item on sale; however, members of the household who own the store have unique interactions for the customer underneath the "Retail" menu allowing for customers to make an easier purchase.
Restaurants[]
Managing a restaurant is slightly different to how it is managing a retail business as there are certain jobs for the employees, food critiques, satisfying the customers and checking if the employees are doing okay.
Vet clinics[]
Vet clinics work similarly to restaurants in terms of managing. Customers come in to get their pets to gain treatment, with the owner and the employees having the task to cure them through rough stages of examining and keeping the pets calm.
Residential Rentals[]
Sims can become landlords themselves by purchasing residential rental lots and managing the units, tenant rules, and selecting for the rent, lease, and what tenants will be able to live in the apartments. There are also many maintenance troubles which can influence the unit ratings as well as potential tenant revolts.
Small businesses[]
Sims can create custom businesses by starting their own small business whether on their home lot or on a venue lot. With small businesses Sims can charge Sims for activities and sell items to make many types of businesses such as Art Centers, Candy shops, Gyms, Tattoo Parlors, Lecture Classes, and Pottery shops.
Employees[]
As in The Sims 2: Open For business, Sims can hire employees for their businesses, and can set their tasks as well as their work uniform. Employees can be promoted or demoted and have a satisfaction to their job.