Title says it all really... I'd like to create a coffee shop as a home business but I'm not sure how to go about it, what items I will need etc.

Any advice would be appreciated!

I don't know from experience, but... you can restrict guests to a room by locking doors to allow you only. Ideally, the room should be at the front door of your place. Place a Bandatron ticket machine there and add a coffee machine and the appropriate places to sit and have coffee, and whatever else to keep them there for as long as possible. The customers can come in through the front door into the area you've placed the coffee equipment, but can't get to the rest of the house through the locked doors. I don't know if you can tend the coffee bar if it is in your resident lot.

I think you'll be able to tend the coffee bar. I remember the lady owning the flower shop at Bluewater --Delarosa was her name?-- being able to create bouquets and be the cashier at the same time. She owned a home business too.
In a coffee shop, however, you'll need to construct Ladies & Gents' rooms, unless you don't mind mopping Sims' pee.

Hmm. A coffee shop sounds like an interesting home business for one of my households. I've decided to have a retirement home for all the pre-made elders to live in. So far, I only have the Oldies living in the house. It isn't fully furnished yet. I have empty bedrooms upstairs for three more sims/couples. They also have fruit trees and a few eggplant plants planted.

They have a big chunk of empty property I hadn't decided yet how to use. I think it is big enough for a small coffee shop if I put restrooms upstairs. I need something to do with all those old folks as soon as I get Denise Jacquet in there. So far, she hasn't shown up and I don't like teleporting sims into the household. I just hope the Oldies don't die before I get some other elders in the house.

I may have them start selling stuff before turning it into a coffee shop. They need to make money to get higher ranks and I don't think a coffee shop will make enough profit without some retail.

Cheshirekat may have a point about the money-making thing, so maybe you could add some cakes/paistries to sell (since most coffee shops have those as well anyway), which could help turn a bit more profit, and get your customers to stay longer. You might also want to add a radio or two, set to jazz, easy listening, or new age, to keep "fun" scores up.

I also dug up a few site downloads that might be useful:
Coffee-shop menus: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=412737
(they also have links for some of the deco used in the pic)
http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=221993

Signs and pictures: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=320284
http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=253977
http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=242916
http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=242454
http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=199776
(they also seem to have some coffee bags and mugs)
http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=139555

A Deco retro coffee maker: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=292985
Deco coffee bags and mugs: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=223676
http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=194669
http://www.digitalperversion.net/ga...71082#msg271082
(you may have to scroll down a bit, it's halfway through the page)

Coffee mills: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=198388

An actual lot made to look like the coffee shop from Seinfeld: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=265927

....Okay, maybe more than just a few links...

Also, here's some good deco pastries, in case you want to sell more stuff, without having to worry about making cakes/cookies, then the food going bad.
Deco cake box: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=284185

And the famous and beautiful Bakery Set, with pretty much every deco baked good you will ever need, and then some :
http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=163210

I have most of the stuff anothereyjana listed in the above post.

Just remember, that a lot of that stuff is decorative. Meaning that customers might stand around looking at stuff and not buying. For a home business, you probably want to keep decorative items to a minimum.

However, for community lots they are totally awesome. One of my comm lots is set up as a marketplace so my sims can go there to buy stuff it isn't worthwhile for me to sell. Newspapers, magazines, video games, and groceries. When my hood is more established, I will let my owners add the various stuff above to their storess to sell. Anyhow, I use quite a bit of decorative items for my comm lot market and it makes it more enjoyable for me to see all the goodies, especially the baked goodies. I have a major weakness for fresh-baked breads, cakes, and pies. And setting it up in my lots makes the game play more intersting. Although it tends to make me hungry. Hehehehe.

For business lots, I only use the decorative items after the business is established because I make sure there is something sellable on every tile of the store. Most of my small shops don't make enough money to use the space for too many decorative items. The sooner they start meeting the financial goals I set for them, the sooner I can make the shop very pretty to look at. I set goals after the first full day of business. When they meet their goals, I add on to the shop, then set another goal. Until eventually they've worked themselves up to a bigger lot and more variety of stuff to sell.

Since it costs a fair chunk of change to buy those decor-chill displays, you might not want to use them to display decorative items. At least, until the shop starts to make money for the owner.

I have my game on now, and one of my families is visiting the marketplace. It's kind of a big lot so they can go fishing, play poker and billiards and darts, barbecue, etc. after they buy their magazines and stuff.

That reminds me, every coffee shop should sell newspapers or magazines. So, you might want to hunt for newspaper stands that fit your hood/shops. In my medieval-ish hood, I have to surround some of this stuff with plants, vases, trunks and other old stuff so my downloads folder doesn't explode trying to use only medieval stuff.

I once tried to create a coffee shop but failed. If you want a home business, then the game doesn't allow you to use a coffee-making stall, so that's impossible. So I tried to make a small business lot and put that stall there and tables\chairs. My sim was working at a stall, waiting for clients to order coffee. But sims came and nobody was ordering coffee, instead they stood and chatted with each other.

It's a shame, I have no idea what the problem was. I saw sims ordering coffee just fine on other lots, but for me as a business that didn't work, as if the stall was invisible for visiting sims.

I think it is a good idea