Is there a hack for initially closed shops?

[sloppyhousewife]

I there a hack to keep a shop closed until I decide to open it for the first time (after having bought a lot / opened a home business)?. It's so annoying that you have to turn the open/close sign first to prevent idiots customers from showing up before you've been able to adjust prices / fill the shelves / whatever, especially on big lots

[Sleepycat]

Inge Jones has a sign you should check out

AUTOMATIC OPEN SIGN
http://www.simlogical.com/sl/Sims2Pages/Sims2FamilyBusiness.htm

it says
If you don't want the shop open on any particular day, toggle to "manual" control the night before.

it has other features too.

[jrd]

And Paladin has a time clock for employees at simwardrobe.com

[Soylent Sim]

I've only tried making one business post-pets, and it was a home-based one, but it seemed like nobody came by until I specifically bought the sign.  (I'd wanted an always-open venue to give my starting sims a bit more of a financial cushion.)  Admittedly a very limited sample size, but if pets changed that it might give you a workaround.  Otherwise, the problem with most hacked objects is that you have to interact with them somehow to get the effect.  And if that's the case, you might as well just queue an interaction with the sign, close your store, and do everything the official way.

[sloppyhousewife]

Inge Jones has a sign you should check out

AUTOMATIC OPEN SIGN
http://www.simlogical.com/sl/Sims2Pages/Sims2FamilyBusiness.htm

it says
If you don't want the shop open on any particular day, toggle to "manual" control the night before.

it has other features too.

Yippee - this looks exactly like what I've been looking for, thanks !. Do you happen to know if there might be problems in combination with Business Runs You?

[Kyna]

I use the BRY controller (the hammer & sickle) to close newly purchased lots.  After purchase, I send my sim to the lot.  As soon as the lot loads I go into buy mode and stick the controller on the lot.  Then I go back into live mode, and click on the controller to close the store.  Any customers on the lot will leave (although normally none have arrived yet).

Then I can set prices, hire staff, call them in, assign them, etc before my sim opens the store for the first time.

This way I am assured of no conflicts with BRY

[sloppyhousewife]

That's even better - so I don't need anything besides BYR. I've not placed the controller so far, but only used the Business... options showing up when clicking on a sim (because I've not been able to find hammer & sickle in buy mode, to tell the truth ), so most of the BRY possibilities have eluded me so far.

[miros]

It shows up by itself when you click the Misc catagory for the first time.  It's also under Misc->Misc with important stuff like BUY, college clock, etc.

[sloppyhousewife]

It shows up by itself when you click the Misc catagory for the first time.  It's also under Misc->Misc with important stuff like BUY, college clock, etc.

That's where I've been looking, as well as under Decorative->Misc. I've never had problems to find all the other vital stuff, but no hammer & sickle . But I will keep looking for it of course. Does it show up under certain conditions only, i.e. just on community lots?

[jsalemi]

Nope, it shows up all the time.

[sloppyhousewife]

LOL -  I had downloaded BRY indeed, and I was absolutely sure I had put it in my downloads folder, too, because the "Business..." option showed up when I clicked on a sim. In fact, I had not

*adds unlimited stupidity to her personal flaws*