Just wondering- what are the main differences between retail and restaurant systems (the ones found in the Store) in the Sims 2 and the Sims 3?

I've always remembered that those systems were much better done in the Sims 2, but I haven't played the game in a while since Origin broke it :/
Likewise, I've never really bothered with these systems (Store Content, not rabbitholes) in the Sims 3 as well.


Also, in addition to ani's overhauls (found here: http://modthesims.info/m/3002461), what else would need to happen in order to bring Sims 3 retail & restaurants back to Sims 2 levels?

Well, the restaurants and stores we get in TS3 are just rabbitholes, so to speak; we can go to them and shop or get food like in TS2, but we don't actually see the sims doing it; they just go inside, do their thing and then exit, as opposed to TS2, where we see everything inside. There are certain Store items that can bring it back to the TS2 style, like the Business as Usual Bistro

I'm talking about the Store Content, not Rabbitholes. Should have specified!

Main difference is that, without mods, they are unstaffed. In other words if you put the Bakery or Bistro into your neighborhood there won't be anyone working them unless you wander in and start yourself, or buy the place.

Back in TS2 could you run business off your home? I forgot.

You can buy clothes like in TS2 with mods by ani. She has the shop for clothes one based on the pedestals from Into the Future. It disables the 'Plan Outfit' interaction from the dressers prompting you to shop from those instead.
If you don't have ITF, she has an older mod which mods the clothes rack from Ambitions.

For the home business, you can do it with a mod from simological here, http://www.simlogical.com/ContentUp...e/uploads/1078/. It works like the ticketing machine in Sims 2 by calling sims into the active lot. I use this in many community lots to make it 'livier' too.
You can see it in action here. https://youtu.be/v8WZYX_Hr-w?list=U...TdTPmLPOQplBYmQ

However, the biggest difference is using these mods and workarounds, you are able to run lots with multiple people running multiple shops. For example, a farmers market with different people selling different produce. Or a mall with multiple shop owners. I love this part of sims 3 so personally, I prefer this retail system to that of sims 2. There are instructions and tutorial videos how to do this on ani's savvier sellar mod page so you can check that out.

Overall I prefer the TS2 style of restaurants and retail because they are more detailed and "realistic", however, TS3 has its upsides, the main being the one you mention. I've always wanted malls and food courts in the game and with Ani's mods and the proper expansions store content, you can pretty much have that in the game. I have one rich real estate mogul Sim who owns a large lot and then have multiple Sims who pay him a sum in "rent" and then set up small shops or restaurants in the building. It's a great way to have a small business without the upfront capital needed to buy your own lot. Also, then prevents having to worry about needing 10 empty lots in your world for a bunch of different businesses. You can have them all on one lot. So yeah, while we may not have the shopping bags and cute cash register animations, ability to tip waiters and the table interactions, we do get malls, food courts, fast food type restaurants, farmer's markets and pop-up shops.

Also to add or rather correct, as someone above mentioned that you can't choose what you want to eat with the bistro oven but with Ani's mod, you can turn off the option for random menu selection so that the menu pops up and you choose what you want to order. Mind you, you would then have to do this for everyone who orders there all the time but I simply keep it on random all the time and then when the active Sim I am playing is eating there, I turn the random off so I can choose for them.

How does TS2 deal with both the selling and buying sides of retail, compared to modded TS3? For example, I understand that the player can set up a store in TS2 to sell pretty much anything. But what happens to that shop when the player switches to another household? Would the second household be able to visit that store to shop? If so, how is inventory replenished?

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread, but I think it'd be useful to have related info all in one place.

The store would look like the last time you played it and would have all the employees there doing their jobs. You'd be able to shop as normal provided there is inventory there.

That was my favorite part of OfB: being able to go to my other Sims' restaurants and stores as a customer and seeing my Sims working.

Also you could tip waiters/waitresses in TS2 which was nice! Though cinderellimouse modified Ani's tax mod to create a tip jar which is a nice compromise. And also less intrusive than the tipping action was in TS2.

Thanks for the info. Does the inventory level decrease as the second household continues to shop there? If the player doesn't switch back into the first household to restock the shop, what happens when all the inventory is depleted? Also, does the first household get money from store sales even when they're not active (i.e. when the second household is being played and made to buy from the shop)?

So if I recall (and someone correct me if I'm wrong), if you go to a bakery and buy all the pies and then leave, the owner gets the money from the sale and the lot is saved from that point.

So if the player goes back to the bakery as the customer again, nothing will be available to buy?

No, when the business owner is the inactive and the buyer is active, the business is fully stocked at the time of your arrival, in Sims 2.

Hi @lucy kemnitzer

If the business is fully stocked by the game (since the owner is inactive) when the buyer is active, but the owner still gets paid for the purchased items, wouldn't this be giving the owner free money? Or is the cost of game-initiated restock deducted from the owner's household funds (in that case, what happens if the owner is out of money)?

There are various mods to make the financial system more realistic in the Sims 2 just as there are in Sims 3. But honestly I didn't run businesses all that much because getting the owner and employees up to speed was frustrating for a non-goal-oriented player like me. But I did have a home sweatshop once where the affable center of a love triangle exploited his first love as a tailor sewing all day long while his current love worked in the shop keeping everything nice and orderly. Those sewing machines were really fun.

Thanks for waking up this thread. Shopping mall ideas keeps coming, with Inge Jones machine I have used that before, but it was a community lot. I could make a cozy little nabourhood with a couple of flats on the upper floor and shops on the ground floor.

I just have to finish this ts4 thing I'm working on.

Yes, you can with Ani's mod. You just need to disable "randomize food" in the settings menu. A window will appear and you'll be able to select what you want to eat from the foods you've selected with the "Set Menu" setting.



Yes, there are with mods and without mods if you have Into the Future. With mods you can disable de "Plan Outfit" interaction from dressers, so you are forced to go somewhere and buy clothes there. You can either have a mod clothing rack type with said interacting and that charges you a price from every piece, or with Into the Future you actually have mannequins you can dress up and buy those clothes later with your Sims. You can place this mannequins in your home world or you'll find them at the Gallery shop in the future world.

After some more research, it seems that:

1. A store is always fully stocked when the buyer is active.
2. When the player is not running the store, the inactive owner gets some amount of income that the game calculates as a function of time, not actual purchases made by NPCs or the active buyer. This amount decreases over time, until the player actively runs the store again.

Since an inactive owner receives money from the game to simulate sales, when the player plays as the owner again, is the store stock decreased?