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-   -   Which Business do you like in The Sims 2 OFB (https://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=490846)

godspeed 11th Nov 2012 8:36 AM

Which Business do you like in The Sims 2 OFB
 
Share with us.
Which Business do you like the most in TS2 OFB. If you have specific reason please share with us.
Your tactics and management styles.
Many of us don't have the knowledge that you possess about the game and vice versa.
So lets share what we know.

joandsarah77 11th Nov 2012 9:39 AM

I love OFB, it's my favourite EP. I like running some form of community shop that sells items the best as I find it gains stars quickly and keeps my sims busy. Catalogue items are the easiest although I like the challenge of crafted items at times. Sometimes I combine the two. I find venue type business boring as there isn't enough to do and I also find they gain stars more slowly. One of those as a home business which runs itself is alright apart from friends wanting to leave even when it's closed. If I do a community venue business I always do a little selling of goods on the side. I've pretty much run every kind of business, from restaurants, bakeries, flowers, garden nursery, robots, toys, general store, food market, Doctors surgery (home business) gym, art gallery, garage sale (at home) funeral parlour (that is one of my favourites, seeing who I could sell a 'corpse' to) car dealership, a church, science facility, hairdressers, clothes stores and others I'm sure I've forgotten.

The only hack I have that I think affects the running of a shop is the one that stops customers complaining. I mostly put that on for my few home businesses as even when closed any friends over for a party or just visiting do nothing but line up complaints loosing relationship points.

I do have a hacked shiny time cook top which brings a cafeteria worker, I have that in my hospital cafeteria and at my service station and any place I want food to be available for customers without having to make it a full out restaurant. To make people pay I use a Door from simlogical which charges them on the way in. There is also a charge for buffet but I had this hack for my school cafeteria.
I also have community lot time so time spent at the shop is real time and they don't get that time back again when they come home. I have to be careful no one misses their work or school bus as real time passes at home. This doesn't affect the shop directly, but indirectly as it isn't 'free time' as you do when you visit community lots without it.

My best tips for a business if you haven't played one much before is use catalogue items as they are easy to restock, this includes book cases where sims will buy individual books, clothes racks and the game and magazine stands. But you can pretty much sell anything from the buy catalogue. Use a family to play your business so you are not losing money to staff. Teens can sell, restock and work the till. I would have at least a couple run the shop with a room there to replenish their needs. An espresso machine can deal with energy so long as they drink often and you don't allow them to get too tired. They can also sleep in a BV tent. I have a sleep on community lot hack now so I'll have them sleep in a bed if need be. The business starts off slowly with just a few customers, the biggest thing is working the till as sims without a till badge are very slow and customers can get so angry they toss their bags down, so ring them up as soon as they walk to the till and be ready for the other sim to tell a joke to customers in line if the line gets longer than 3 or 4. When a sim you have never seen before comes in those are normally reporters. They look for a wells stocked store. Be ready as soon as they look lost to click on them and give them help. Giving help to any lost sim tends to gain a shop stars. You need stars to go up in rank and gain perks.

I do have a couple of tutorials, one on running a restaurant (very old on the exchange and slightly silly which isn't loading right now for me to give a link... which maybe just as well as I don't think it's very good ) and one on a bakery on live journal which unfortunately lost all its pictures. Bakery tutorial is here http://joandsarah.livejournal.com/22390.html Oh and one I forgot on making a grilled cheese restaurant which was for a challenge on another board which had grilled cheese sims. http://joandsarah.livejournal.com/20598.html

I very rarely use managers as I enjoy running the shops myself and find ringing them up a nuisance. I'm sure other people like them though. I think an employee needs a certain number of badge points to be promoted to manager, just I can't remember how many. If you do hire sims, get the easiest jobs filled with the cheapest people possible first. So a teen on restocking unless there is a sim with a gold badge in something you need such as on a till, then it can be worth paying out the higher wage. Except for something like a chef where you might want high skill. Sims don't care thought, they will order cereal from a chef who can’t cook just as happily as they order lobster so long as it comes quickly and isn't burnt or spilt on them. You do that by planning what is on the menu with the chefs skill in mind. Restaurants are probably the hardest business to run though so I wouldn't recommend it as a first business.

godspeed 11th Nov 2012 10:29 AM

That was awesome Jo. I read your tutorial and yes so sorry that the images were gone. I agree with you with these statement you mentioned "Restaurants are probably the hardest business to run though so I wouldn't recommend it as a first business.
"
, because when I first started a restaurant I was normally running my business in loss, since I had made 3 Reception counters with 3 host so the customers doesn't need to stay in line for long. but unfortunately all the customers go in the same reception counter rather using other 2 free counters. It made me lose the stars and relationship too. Even if the customers is well greeted sometimes and shown the table by the host, after a while the customer just stand aside the table and again move out of the restaurant without ordering the food.
Again, always make sure that one whom you assign Chef, he/she must posses a humble number of cooking skill points, or the customer will not be happy.
make sure you put the electronic ticket machine which charges the customer for entering the building or even better use the simoleon charging door mentioned by Joandsarah, which always earns you extra simoleon to help your business running.

ImFilip 11th Nov 2012 10:47 AM

Well, since i want to make greay money and i don't want to pay money for my products (like running a bakery, food is not free!) so i love to make fish stores. They sell good and they are easy to get! I like to make different kinds of stores. Not toystores or like that.

sushigal007 11th Nov 2012 11:13 AM

I mostly stick to selling stuff, but I have had a go at running Malcolm Landgraab's nightclub as well as a pub, a salon and a strip club! The salon is especially fun for making over ugly townies.

godspeed 11th Nov 2012 11:45 AM

Quote: Originally posted by ImFilip
Well, since i want to make greay money and i don't want to pay money for my products (like running a bakery, food is not free!) so i love to make fish stores. They sell good and they are easy to get! I like to make different kinds of stores. Not toystores or like that.

Hey ImFilip if you want to make money why don't to try this out. Press ctrl+shift+c Enter the cheat boolprop testingcheatsenabled true then Press Shift and click on your active sim and click on SPAWN then click on SERVO. it will spawn a servo. Now put that servo for sale in low price. it sells good. or try Buyable servo (here is the Link) Buyable Servo by ByDemonsBeDriven.
Its actually cheating but it may help or why don't you read the tutorials given by Joandsarah.

Peni Griffin 11th Nov 2012 2:23 PM

I've only had three businesses. I wasn't interested in running one when I first installed the EP (which I got primarily because MUST HAVE KIDS DANCING ON FEET; hey, it was cheap on E-bay) , but after awhile I got curious. Luz Ghote, a simmigrant with Fortune aspiration, grew to elder as a roadie while she still had a toddler at home. Roadie is a gruelling employment level, and she and her husband would have both been working evenings. So I had her buy a small lot and built her a night club, to experiment with. I don't know what you mean about venue businesses not having much to do, joandsarah! Luz (and anybody she takes with her) is constantly busy - tending bar, selling tickets, playing the piano, cleaning up, chatting up the customers. Her husband Billy is a sleazy Romance sim, so when he works it by himself, he prowls for side dates. Also, I can watch what people are doing in the background. The only thing I don't like about the Hot Spot is that I can't have the active sim on a date or an outing buy tickets for everybody else.

The very first Fortune sim I made after installing the EP got the Five 10-Star Business LTW. And I like Lily. I found I get a real kick out of using the makeover chair rather than the mirror to change appearance - it made me look at the choices with different eyes. Not "What looks good on this character?" but "What does Lily think would look good on this character?" Turns out Lily's Philosophy of Hair is "Go big, or go home."

She started at University, so I had some time, and her future father-in-law Esteban had to retire because he grew to elder before reaching a coaching level in the athletic career. Esteban is also a Fortune sim, and the family got a big influx of cash when Emilio, Lily's boyfriend, graduated, so I had Esteban start a retirement business. The simplest thing seemed to be to have a straight-up retail store. I had no idea what he'd want to sell, so I bought him a small lot, built it, looked at the money I had left, and decided small electronics would be a good starter business. Esteban is the Grouchiest Sim in Drama Acres and watching him try to run a business where he can't afford to antagonize his customers is a hoot. And he has a large family, so there's no need to hire employees. The business is plenty small enough that even with an absurd number of neat points that makes him place cleaning above all other jobs, he can still handle it when I have other playables visit him. The only problem is, all the cheap burglar alarm recolors that keep appearing in people's inventories.

Now that LIly's graduated and married Emilio, she runs Lily's House of Transformation right next door to her father-in-law's place, the Casa de los Widgets. Lily's is the business I use the most. I just love going there! It's a tiny store with a lot of deco for sale, a clothing rack, a jewelry stand that doesn't work properly, a grill outside, and the Chair of Transformation. One entire wall is mirror so it doesn't feel as cramped. There's lots of things I haven't figured out yet - like I've only been able to make over one customer by running Lily; most of her makeover business is playables I send to her on their rotations - but holey cheese, can she sell that deco! I've had to add a new step to my orientation routine when I open a lot and go through the HUD for each family member, looking in the inventory to see if they've bought anything, and when they have, it's almost always bathroom/bedroom deco from Lily's. I've had to stop decorating bathrooms, because the sims do it for me. When she couldn't handle the place on her own I had her hire her teen brother-in-law's girlfriend, and I really like how good it's been for their relationship and the way it keeps Ruby's mood up. Since Ruby's Fortune, she loves getting badges and making money, and she's constantly working on multiple badges now. And she loves her boss, who isn't a bit like the other adult women she knows and makes a good mentor/role-model for her. I like seeing them working together.

That chunk of time out of her evening is missed when I play her lot, though.

godspeed 11th Nov 2012 2:48 PM

That was awesome Peni Griffin. I prefer the electronics business. I have mostly downloaded the custom contents from the electronics and appliances section. I am trying to make the store section wise such as, television, music player, computer, fridge, ovens, microwave, other small appliances, toys etc. I have downloads like Nintento, LG fridge, Tv. Could anyone suggest me the links from where I can download such as Logos. i.e Samsung, Sony, Lg etc. I have the Samsung but not the others.

Peni Griffin 11th Nov 2012 2:51 PM

Ask on WCIF (Where Can I Find?). If nobody else has made them, you made need to learn to recolor and do your own.

godspeed 11th Nov 2012 2:53 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Peni Griffin
Ask on WCIF (Where Can I Find?). If nobody else has made them, you made need to learn to recolor and do your own.
Thanks there.. i ill definitely try that.

Alijah 11th Nov 2012 3:19 PM

I really love to create shops that allow the community to be self-contained. I'm currently playing a BACC (very slowly) but I'm also trying to slowly make Pleasantview into the same. My favorite type of shop to run is a whole foods store, with fresh produce and fish. It's really hard to run, but brings the most fun into the game for me, since I love a challenge. I also have a sort of real estate office where player-owned community lots can be sold (usually to Malcolm Landgrabb) once they're ready to retire.

Another great (very profitable) business are art galleries. Sims are willing to pay top dollar for art, and so you can make great money by jacking the price of items to high or very high and most will still pay for it.

gazania 11th Nov 2012 3:43 PM

My experience with businesses ... yours may vary ....

Cheats I like: No complaining customers. I just found the constant complaining annoying. Yes, I know that whining customers are a given in real life, but in my fantasy world, they're happy most of the time ... except when my inept new worker has trouble ringing everyone up. (I figured I should let the customers act like two-year-olds ONCE in a while!) (Squinge)

Anybody be manager. (Squinge. I'll sometimes use managers on home lots.)

Hire family member. (Squinge)

Sleep on community lot. (Numenor)

Place custom items on shelves (Numenor). IMO, if I was permitted to choose one and only one OFB hack, this is the one I would choose.

Insim/Blender ... to keep those employees' moods up!

Tips ... use family wherever you can, whenever you can. Even young children can chat with the customers and put them in a more amenable mood. (I find that well-schoomzed customers are happy customers.)

Yes, I agree with many here .... don't try a restaurant first .... at least not JUST a restaurant. A lot of time and effort for little profit, IMO. Flowers are good, baked goods are fine, fish is wonderful, as others have already mentioned. Even plants. (My daughter opens nurseries and does well with them. ) My starving artists do OK opening home businesses for their artwork. Little overhead (except for the easel). Family can help paint as well. Even Junior's work of art can fetch a nice price. Would that artists sell their pieces that easily in real life.

If you must have a restaurant, have a lucrative side business. Open a sort of "gift shop" or "art store" on the lot.

Looking through various sites can inspire a few great ideas for businesses. One of my Sims has an anime/manga shop., for instance.

lorinsv60 11th Nov 2012 3:54 PM

Because of playing my BaCC, I've gotten pretty proficient at running business over this past year, and I like running stores selling buy-mode items the best. Just recently I set up a sushi restaurant using the Far East food stand from BV, and it's the easiest business I've ever run. It takes hardly any selling because Sims love it, and there's no cleaning or cooking because it comes with a built-in chef. Pagoda Sushi got to Rank 5 the fastest of any business I've run.



NatteryakToad 11th Nov 2012 4:29 PM

I have several businessess. I started off with just home businessess, as I don't really like using community lots that much. The first I started right at the beginning of my neighbourhood, with one of my founding families. Abe and Suzi Rooke began selling crafted toys, in a business which expanded to sell catalogue toys, cribs, changing tables, high chairs, ect. It's now on its third premises, as the family has moved a few times, and is run by Abe and Suzi's son and heir, Joseph.

The next business was started by Abe and Suzi's eldest daughter, Ruth, when she left home. She began selling pottery and paintings, and this business has also moved onto different premises. She now runs it with her husband, Amin Sims.

Another home business is Elliot Tomlin's fresh produce store, selling fish and things he grows in his garden. I find this one takes a bit more running, because of home time consuming getting all the produce is, but luckily he and his wife have six children, who all help out.

I find business like this can be run with one sim, but it's much easier with one on the register, one selling, and perhaps a third (usually a teenager after they get home from school and Mum and Dad have been running the business all morning) restocking.

I then decided to buy Jack James a community lot, because he wanted too, and because he had far too much money for his own good. So he bought a lot on the high street, and set up a business selling electronics, which he runs with his girlfriend, or his alien daughter, or both of them. He has since also bought another community lot, which is a music venue, and money is earned either by the bandatron, or the family playing music for tips. After discovering the "be personal trainer" interaction for sims with high body skill when sims with lower body skill were using the work out equipment, he also turned his garage into a gym, which is really his daughter Taegan's pet project. Again, money is owned via the bandatron, although I wish it was possible to charge for personal trainer services.

After seeing her brother's success, Jade James (also with far too much money) set up a fitness centre in her back garden, including a swimming pool. This is also a bandatron business, and can be run 24/7, so Jade and her daughter are making money in their sleep.

My favourite of these businesses to run would probably be Elliot's produce shop, just because of the way it influences wider family life. Elliot spends most of his time in the garden, working hard to provide for his family. The kids all muck in, raking in the fall, fishing in the summer, helping Dad harvest - at one point they had a right little production line going on; one of the boys went first, weeding all the crops, Elliot followed talking to all the crops and getting them to "thriving" as he's still the only one that has a gold gardening talent badge, and another of his sons followed, harvesting the perfect crops.

crocobaura 11th Nov 2012 6:06 PM

I like businesses that run themselves. I do enjoy running them occasionally, but most of the time I like to take my playable sims out and just enjoy the locations. I use the skill on community lot hack (from pescado, I think), so sims going at the gym or the library can actually skill.

joandsarah77 11th Nov 2012 8:41 PM

Quote:
I don't know what you mean about venue businesses not having much to do, joandsarah! Luz (and anybody she takes with her) is constantly busy - tending bar, selling tickets, playing the piano, cleaning up, chatting up the customers.


Well Peni Griffin (since we are being formal and snarky) Tending bar is one of the things I meant as selling on the side. With a venue business your sim can do nothing at all if you want. One time my pub stayed open, the customers played cards and pool, the reporter came and gave them an award and they were literally both asleep the whole night while he was there. I don't really count playing piano, cleaning and chatting to customers as things to do which give me long lasting interest. Each to his own. The only time I found a venue type business engaging was when I had one run by a romance sim with a 20 woohoo want as it gave him lots of opportunity to be a sleaze ball and work on his LTW.

Peni Griffin 11th Nov 2012 8:46 PM

I wasn't being snarky and I'm sorry you heard it that way. And I really don't understand the distinction you're making. A venue business can run itself, if you want - but it doesn't have to. And Luz spends a lot of time just getting butts in the seats.

joandsarah77 11th Nov 2012 9:07 PM

I was saying that tounge in cheek somewhat, but I misread you as well. I thought Luz meant lol, and (and anybody she takes with her) was refering to me- because I didn't read through all that you had said before that.

Peni Griffin 11th Nov 2012 9:18 PM

Ah, well, no harm done! May this be the worst misunderstanding either of us has this week.

Hmm...I should say something thread-relevant here...but I'm drawing a blank, since I've played them so little.

joandsarah77 11th Nov 2012 9:25 PM

I was thinking I should say something thread relevent as well, but it's only 7.30am and I need more coffee.

Roseblossom90 11th Nov 2012 9:35 PM

Personally, I like party stores, fish markets, flower shops, or car dealerships. I enjoy the party shops and car dealerships because, even though it can be expensive to start, they bring in money very quickly due to the high value of the things I sell. Fish markets are fun, especially if you know how to work your plantsims and don't really care if they miss a couple days out of their lives due to fishing. As for flower shops, if your sim has a gold flower arranging badge and you make and sell snapdragons, the perk from the snapdragons will bring your customer's motives up while they shop, making things easier.

Another thing I found helpful is the 'automatic cash register' from simlogical that removes the need for a normal cash register and isn't really unrealistic if you consider self-checkouts they now have in stores. There are other downloads there that are helpful but that is the only one I use that isn't really cheaty to me.

smellincoffee 11th Nov 2012 9:54 PM

My favorite business is a grocery-general store called "The Green Grocery"; it's owned by the Green family. At Average prices, sims don't require any encouragement to buy food, so I don't have to constantly have salespeople roaming around. A lot of the objects sold in the store are really just art, but they make the place look real. There are shelves with bread, barrels of apples, rows of jam...it looks like a country store, and my idea with the place was to let it be a "Place" that people would like to come to,, even if they didn't need food. At first, Mortimer Green ran the place by himself, but then his teens began helping and now his grandkids are employees. One of them usually runs the coffee stand, one is cashier, and elder-Mortimer putters around chatting with people. Behind the place I have a dirt lane where I pretend delivery trucks from the local farm stop and unload in the morning.

SusannaG 11th Nov 2012 10:33 PM

The most successful businesses I've run have been bars, and a witch's shop in my current hood.

The Craft Shop sells witch goods (I have no idea how many chandeliers are in the inventories of the townies; I think there are a lot of them.) as well as hand-crafted items from the work benches - the owner's OTH is Arts & Crafts. (He has the time to make all this stuff, at his caldron or bench, because he's a werewitch, and sleeps very little.)

I start the bars with a card table, toilet facilities, and a bar, and go from there. As it makes more money, I add musical instruments (for "Live Mike Night"), and possibly another bar or another card table (or both).

I think my next business is going to be a pool hall.

Aegagropilon 11th Nov 2012 10:57 PM

I like running clothing stores because it gives the locals a great venue for friendmaking, gossip, and fights and it provides a way of changing townie and playable wardrobes on the fly. I'm going to have Scooter and Anne-Marie Howell open up a makeover shed once Scooter gets his gold badge for the same reason.

The businesses aren't particularly successful, but they sure are fun.

godspeed 12th Nov 2012 4:47 AM

I am glad to see that so many simmers are sharing their thoughts here about their strategies likes and dislikes. Thank you all.
And JO and Griffin, I think you both are having a nice exchange of thoughts, I am sorry if I have intervened. Carry on everyone, But do keep the level of misunderstanding to the lowest. Thank you


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