More Awesome Than You!

I am really not all that creative and I'd like some new ideas for a home business.  I (obviously) already have robot, toy, and flower shops.  I also made a salon, a small electronics store, an art gallery, and a bakery.  Now I'm out of ideas.  Any suggestions?

Hehehe, thank goodness I'm not the only saying to themselves, Hmmm..what do I do now?

I got a bunch of 'adult' stuff from MTS2 and opened a porno shop for my sim Dirk McBlade  :P

A furry/plushie store.

An opium den.

A brothel.

A casino.

A Christian Church.


All these have done quite well in my hood.

You're selling salvation?  :o
Or you got a little something going on in the church basement?  ;)

I prefer to do a ripoff house:
snapdragons near the ticket machine and in the owner's bedroom
price ~§100-§200
a TV if necessary
"dazzle"-interaction

I'm *not* creative at all!
Someone at N99 thought of creating a brothel with the ticketing machine and the "Waterbed of Love" from MTS2.
From what she stated, it was dong very well.

I've read that people are selling puddles of pee, but when I tried to put one of Brynne's up for sale, it said I couldn't sell it.  I was thinking of starting a Grot Shop (only those UK readers who remember Reggie Perrin will need no explanation) ... basically, it would sell everything nobody wants.  Cheap tack at highly-inflated prices, in other words.  I was going to sell Brynne's pee puddle for around $1000 simoleans.

Ok, let me offer some clean ideas here. *Jysudo puts on halo and angel wings before begining*

You can open theme stores. Like Japanese theme store, Chinese theme stores or more genetric oriental theme stores.

Then a hollywood store, a bollywood store selling movie stuff.

Or get ur creative sims to paint canvas  and sell them at record high prices.

Or a zoo

Or a undertaking services, selling coffins for dearly departed sims ...

Limitless ideas for good clean fun !

Light a candle for a dollar.

Give to the needy (the priest who has huge lawyer fees)

Donate Church repairs (a wetbar with attached alterboy restraints)

Donate to improve relations with parishoners (money used for call girls).

The selling of indugences and false artifacts is a time honored tradition.

"Now dig deep into those pockets for this most worthwhile ministry, it will be a blessing to you and your family!"

Put you money in the collection plate. You godless bastard.

(http://peninsulaclarion.com/images/021403/ReligionToday.jpg)

I think the trick is to specialize/theme according to your sims personalities. Don't open 'a toy store' - open a dollhouse and sell only collectible dolls and teddy bears and doll-sized furniture. Open a beach-themed store and sell life preservers, floats, swimsuits and wet suits, seashells and aquariums. If you want to sell the water toys, have the sim running this buy them from others that know how to make them.

Have your sweet little old lady start a weekly bingo game and have her husband sneak a poker game into the back room. Run alcohol in a dry county (where selling alcohol isn't legal for those of you not in the US). Open a wax museum (hm, I haven't played with the servos, but they might be fun for this) and have the exhibits 'come alive' when the store is closed.

Have a Knight-themed restaurant where the servers wear costumes and do a show at specific times of day. Open a Chuckie Cheese (or whatever they call it these days) or a playhouse where the kids go for birthday parties and play on all the stuff. Open a used furniture/junk store and have the owner buy all the stuff they sell from other sims (have yard sales and auctions and flea markets to stock it).

Any store you like, any one you see in real-life or have read about in a book. How about a drugstore? Or a gift store where they sell gift wrap and ribbons and paper for the love notes and cards and the like? There's so many things :)

All that your picture tells me is that you are trying to wring money from fat middleaged white men  :P

But selling pieces of the true cross could be kinda fun. And you could do the bingo game at the church. And maybe have people "donate" to 'Be Healed'.

Another idea, if you like putting in your own sound tracks for the radio and tv, it would be fun to do an advertising agency and sell commercials.

 I don't have oFB yet, which is why the Church idea made me wonder, but I have been thinking along the lines of furniture stores, greenhouses, hardware store, etc. Basically sell everything your sims need to set up house and then whenever a sim moves or upgrades their home I will have them buy from a store. Would this work?

Well, I started a Window Empire with Sim Rentech and Pescado. It's doing pretty well at the moment. Funny thing is, that in the living quarters (coughbunkercough) they have no windows.

These windows are so cheap, we don't even use them! :D

Before my reinstall I had the boomingest electronics home business with computers, desks, chairs, TV's, and small electrical; you get the idea..The Simmies loved it!  And I made them pay 50 simoleans to enter the store. ;D

Real Estate is quite profitable.

Selling swampland to townies and offering free espresso.  :D

I like the idea of selling Sim-painted pictures...hadn't thought of that :D A whole gallery of one Sim's pictures, how fun.

On another board I saw someone was going to do a plumbing shop, and someone built a lot on TSR for a lamp shop. Hm, can you do a clothing shop? That might be cool, like running a consignment shop out of your house. I might do a mission-style furniture store at some point, between what came with OFB and custom stuff I've got several sets of furniture and I love that style. I've seen mention of a book store but I'm not sure how that works, maybe you can only sell magazines...there's another idea, a newstand. Magazines and coffee :)

Jen, the clothing stores are highly profitable.

I have one called "Just Clocks" where you can only buy alarm clocks at insane prices.  :D

How about a nursery? I haven't tried yet, but I'm sure you can sell trees. It would be cheap since you wouldn't need an actual building to house the business.

I have a store, "More Awesome Than You", where you can buy my stuff at insane prices. Cuz those Lot Debuggers ain't free, you know.

Oooh, I like the nursery idea. If you can't sell real trees you could sell potted plants, and maybe stuff like Windkeeper's plastic bushes. I have to admit when I first saw "nursery" I thought you were talking about a day care, and I thought "What???" :P

Cool about the clothing store, gotta try that one.

Oh a few more ideas...if you have the holiday pack you could sell Christmas items. Used car lot  :D La-z-boy store with recliners. Music shop selling instruments. Or a yard sale selling all the raggedy stuff from Uni, Heh heh.

I have a couple of farms. Using Echo's crops from MTS2, the husband spends the day tending the crops. The wife bakes and "makes preserves" on alternate days. The other day, she is minding the roadside stand where she sells the cookies, cakes and preserves that she makes. Also, have some farm animals and mark milk cans and baskets of eggs for sale. It doesn't make a lot of money, but enough that the two of them can afford the mortgage on the farm and neither has to get a job off-lot.

Oh that's very cool Simmiecal. I love the sound of it. I'll have to steal that one :) I didn't even get the harvestable crops yet and I love how you've got the wife scheduled.

I also have a Vampire who sells tombstones and urns at a makeshift cemetery. One could do that with a zombie sim and I suppose it would be more fitting. Then all you would need are some brains to put on display.  :D

/me makes notes to steal Simmiecal's idea

Hey simmiecal, I have a farm lot too. I started with a teen girl to harvest crops, and sell chickens, ducks, pigs, and heysacks, etc. I snatched all your farm themed objects in your Matyville neighborhood. And your farmer's market is wonderful, I will have her buy that lot once she makes enough money. But how do you "make preserves"? And where do you get the basket of eggs?

Oh, to add, you could also get a horse from MTS2 as the transportation for your farm sims.

And my ideas for shops:
A daycare service, use Inge's school system to enroll children (works very well), and Inge's teleporter plus to summon infants and toddlers (haven't tried yet). Charge by the time machine, you can have the children sign up one by one, because when you "start school", you have their thumbnails to control. But you can also just "end school", and they are now free customers, and they will think about it and most will sign up on their own, if you have a lot of toys  :D. Normal townie guests will also come, including some children's parents. It's really fun.

A bed and breakfast, use Squinge's sleep at community and home business hack and charge by the time machine. I only tested for a few hours, and haven't found if guests will actually sleep. You can find out!

Loverat at MTS2 has a residential Mortuary & Funeral Parlour, http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=141414, it looks fun. I downloaded but yet to play. You can play that or just have a look to get some ideas. She/he also has a very nice looking nursery community lot, and a beach. http://forums.modthesims2.com/member.php?u=99

It can be fun to draw business ideas from other games. I'm looking forward to starting my very own Ninja Burger (http://www.ninjaburger.com/).

Creative license with that one. With the farmer's market stuff, there are jars of preserves. I mark those as for sale and then buy wholesale replacements "imagining" that she is making the preserves on the same day that she is doing all the baking.


I got them with the farm animals. I think it might have been the animal set at TSR (but it could have been MTS2). I mark the basket and one chicken for sale and then wholesale purchase replacements again "imagining" that some of the eggs hatched to make the replacement chickens.
  ;D


I've just started building my hotel. I have Echo's sleep hack in and have no problem with them sleeping on the lots.

I'm also building a hospital. Will probably have the time machine in but will also sell "pills" and little items in the hospital gift shop. Haven't quite worked out the whole thing yet but I'm leaning towards having it be a "home" business with a couple of doctors and nurses "living" on the lot - with break rooms for "naps". I plan on using Inge's teleporter bush to bring certain sims to the lot for story purposes - a sick sim, a pregnant sim, etc.

I have been doing a little list of shops i want to try sometime, so I might as well publish it here, and hope it inspires somebody. Some of it has already been mentioned, some of it is pretty stupid, and some I hope will give inspiration.

Lamp shop
Bakery
Internet Café
Restaurant, with themes, such as italian, medievil, breakfast etc.
Bed store
Couch store
Dining  Room Store
Nightclub
Bowling Alley
Gamblinghall (finaly a use for those games)
Makeover with added vanity table
Florist
Toystore
Gaming console store /game store
Clothes shop
Kitchen/bathroom shop
Cardealer
Musicstore Selling the instruments
Pay per hour picknick area
Nursery (the one with plants hehe)
Café
Art GAllery (Selling art)
Art Museum (not selling art)
DIY shop with doors, windows and general build mode items
Rock carving shop, where i will be selling headstones and other stone things, fountains etc.
pay per hour swimming pool area.

What about a pawnbrooker ?

Rose

I don't remember seeing a basket of eggs. But there is a deco item come with OFB that looks like a dozen eggs on a plate.

You mean with Echo's sleep hack, your guests will sleep on your homebusiness hotel?  8) Can't wait to see myself.

I also have a collection of hospital stuff. Need to get more outfits, then I will start one. Can you make sims sick with some hack? i wish sick sim will like to sit down or relax. But not Maxis sims.  :( 

I've got a sim who I'd intended to be a hardknock single mother prostituting herself for the sake of her teenaged son. She, of course, is going to have a "brothel".

Darren Dreamer I had open a private art gallery to sell his paintings. He was painting way too slowly though, to the pt where I couldn't keep 2 paintings on the walls for a freaking day, so I had to augment the operation with catalog paintings.

Dina Lothario (nee Caliente) was a business tycoon in my game, and I had it in mind for her to be the head of a cosmetics empire. To that end, I'm going to build her a shop where I sell "cosmetics" objects - essentially CC in the form of beauty products. I'm not sure how profitable selling CC is going to be though, so she might branch out into clothing eventually, depending upon the success of the makeup operation.

For my various other sims, I've got lined up - hotelier, restauranteur, retail empire (That's going to be Morty Goth, who's not dead yet cuz I haven't played him much), casino chains, and possibly an elite private school, w/ the help of Inge's school objects.

I rarely get my sim-kids to skill at home, and the school is a godsend for skilling, as well as for your simkids to meet friends in class. I just let them run amok, and whoever they end up socializing with the most is going to be their friends. And only the passable townies are enrolled, so no chance of fugly friends with mouths the size of their head.  ;D

I do have a problem with the controller not auto-teleporting the students in at the start of class, though. I have to do it manually. Is there anything I'm missing in order to get the school controller to work?

It works in my game, and I have TONS of hacks, both from here and MTS2. You first use "pupil token" to enroll students, and then use "school bell" to start school, and all the students will be teleported at once. You don't even need any other controllers, such as classroom controller, crowd controller, if you just let them run around, like me. I don't think you even need to assign a principal.

*rolls on the floor laughing* *wipes tears from eyes*

I love this thread. Now to think of something to contribute...'

*edit* Okay, thought of something...I am thinking to make empty residential lots into commercial lots temprorarily so that they can be bought by the real estate office, which is run by one of my sims, and each sims coming into my hood or who is moiving out to buy his/her own place will need to buy from the Real Estate office. Once they buy it, I convert it to resi again, and they move in. Not sure if it will work, gotta try it out.

Like someone mentioned above, I am trying to create an economy in my town. So that to buy what you need you need to get it from a store, not the  catalogue.

So I want a cheapo furniture shop, that can supply the new sim with all they need for their starter home.

But it's supposed to be manual? B/c I thought they were supposed to auto-teleport in.

You just click once on "start school", and all the students would be teleported.

I've been debating using that waterbed for evil purposes...hmmm maybe I should
I like my CAS sims too much to turn them into whores...maybe that's a good job for the townies haha

I haven't started too many businesses in my 'hoods yet.

I made a night club...that I haven't played yet to see how it works.
I have a car dealership... a shop that sells nothing but Asian decor
A robot shop
Flower shop
Salon..but that got boring pretty fast
Bakery

That's a bit it for now..so yeah I've been pretty non creative with my businesses as well.

thanks for the ideas, guys!  I did come up with one myself (wow!) that i'm using on my current lot.  It's a baby store.  All it sells is cribs, highchairs, etc and toddler toys.  I might put in some teddy bears and stuff for good measure.

I have a naval base in my hood. The naval base is in the downtown / run-down area of town where all shipyards are. Well, across the street from the naval base in a run-down trailer is a woman who "entertains" customers on her lot. Not only does she have the waterbed but also the "special" chair and rug from MTS2. So far, she has met six of the sailors and three of them seem to be forever hanging around the lot.  :D  My favorite picture from that lot is when the town preacher decided to make a "social" call. She might turn that picture over to the town newspaper if he doesn't come up with the hush money.  :D

A funerarium selling coffins, flowers (and tombstones? gotta try this) is fun!

Lilith Pleasant also has a goth salon, so that I don't even have to change anything to the guys who get a suposedly "bad" makeover and end up looking like Robert Smith!

Selling flat screens to those moronic townies is also a very nice and easy way to get money.

My plan is to build some sort of laboratory where the townies would pay (ticket machine business) to be tortured, with cowplants, electrocution ect. Now THAT would be lovely :).

That's very fun story. What are the "special" chair and rug from MTS2?  ;) I only know of the waterbed.

http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=138897

http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=138902

Be sure to get Crammyboy's cock mod if you're going to use these.
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=65376

I've seen the "special" chair....I nearly wet myself laughing as I had only just stumbled upon the AO section at MTS2.   ;)

Here are some pictures of one of the family farms with a home business. It is set-up using Echo's farming items and using the home business to sell some items like pies and preserves, chicken eggs, etc. 

Abe and Francine Darshun own this farm - with the help of one of Inge's §10,000 mortgage shrubs.

Here are a couple of shots of the farm:

(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a303/SimmieCal/snapshot_312762ac_b12ded94.jpg)

(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a303/SimmieCal/snapshot_312762ac_712ded60.jpg)

(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a303/SimmieCal/snapshot_312762ac_b12ded7f.jpg)


Abe's full time job is working the farm. Even spending all day in the yard, he can't get to all the crops in one day.

(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a303/SimmieCal/snapshot_312762ac_912defd8.jpg)

(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a303/SimmieCal/snapshot_312762ac_f12df07b.jpg)


Francine, who has pretty decent cooking skills, makes strawberry cheesecake with the strawberries that Abe just harvested. She only has one cheesecake in the display case as she is trying to build up an inventory of bakery items. Better to have one item in the display case than a bunch of re-stock signs. She also has baskets of berries that Abe harvested, couple of baskets of eggs, a container of goat milk, a couple of chickens and some baby chicks available for sale. So far, people only seem to be interested in the berries.

(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a303/SimmieCal/snapshot_312762ac_d12df2af.jpg)

(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a303/SimmieCal/snapshot_312762ac_b12dedb4.jpg)

(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a303/SimmieCal/snapshot_312762ac_b12df84a.jpg)

Now that Francine is expecting their first baby, it has become difficult for her to spend much time baking or tending the home business. Abe, as usual, steps in to help with the business and cleaning chores around the house.

(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a303/SimmieCal/snapshot_312762ac_d12df873.jpg)

(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a303/SimmieCal/snapshot_312762ac_512df8d4.jpg)


We'll see how they manage once the baby comes along. They get by ok with the farm income, but they probably won't be able to pay off the mortgage if Francine's little business doesn't start generating some better income. Unfortunately, with the business being in a barn - and being decorated (or lack of decoration) as a barn and with few items on display, she got a bad review. Not sure yet how the bad review will effect them.

SimmieCal, That is an awesome Lot!

and it reminds me that the new Harvest Moon for the GameCube is coming out in the "spring" of this year.

Havest Moon: Magical Melody (they finally got smart and you can play as a boy or a girl - with 10 possible marriage partners)

I also read that there will be a "Havest Moon DS"

How about an adoption agency? You can start off making an "orphanage" with a few adult sims to run it, and then use Inge's Teleporter to teleport in unwanted offspring from unwed teenage mothers or family sims that want to have ten of the brats. Then have the prospective parents come and meet the children, and see which one they get along with the best. Then sell them something like an "adoption certificate" (recoloured painting maybe) for a few hundred simoleons and send them home. Then load up their lot and teleport the kid to them, then add them to the family.

I havent tried it out yet, but I've been kicking around the idea for a little while now.

wow

that farm looks way cooler than my home porno shop 

 ;D

Hey, Z. Missed ya!

Santa's Toyshop in Strange Town employs a staff of vampires who make toys all night.

That's getting a little boring, so I'm thinking of adding the hacked Slacker Hydroponic Garden so Santa can deal herb and bongs (psyckotic's hacked bubble-blower), too. (Goodies from MTS2.)

Wah! I wish console games weren't so damned expensive here.  :'( I love Harvest Moon.

liegenschonheit, I really like the idea.

What about home selling parties?  Look around for stuff like canister sets and bowls and have Tupperware parties, or use a clothing rack and download some racy lingerie.  Have an Avon lady go around giving people makeovers or throw a Mary Kay party (maybe someone's got a Cadillac that you could recolor pink!)  XD  Heck, an Amway representative can sell darn near anything.  You could build a multi-level marketing empire in your hood.  XD

When you sell pink cadillacs, rem to play that song by the same name as well to match the theme of the shop  ;D

ok. I'm going to risk public humiliation here... but I just started my first attempt at running a home business. My sim set up a little game room with the pool table and poker table. I threw in a few snapdragons and a couple espresso machines and a couple bathrooms. So far it seems to be going pretty well, loyalty stars popping up all over the place. The problem is hardly anyone touches the espresso or uses the bathroom. They just leave with the bathroom desperation thought bubble over their head. I'd think there was something blocking the bathrooms altogether if it wasn't for the very rare occurance when someone actually uses one. So what am I missing? Its probably something simple.

I think my next attempt is going to be a brothal. That story about the local preacher coming to call was rather amusing. Thanks for the ideas.

I don't know if this would work, but how about a home-based wedding chapel?  You could teleport in the bride and groom, marry them, give a party.  Not sure how you would charge, maybe the ticket seller.

I was going to make an old timey themed, evil magic and mysterious knick-knack shop

SimmieCal thank you so much for showing echo's crops : it is what I missed the most from the sims 1 (makin' magic). I have a lot of fun with all these plants right now. Thank you so much  ;D.
Pioupiou

Me, I have NINJA BURGER!
(http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/adv/sendintheclowns.jpg)

You may or may not care to try to run one at home.

Thanks for all the great ideas.  I'm trying to make some cheap business lots that my sims can afford to buy.  If they work out I'll upload to TSR with the rest of my Willow Walk lots.  I'm having big problems keeping the cost down.  So far anything nice looking with my water and willows theme comes in at over 40,000 - the health spa was 127,000! and nothing even remotely nice costs less than 25,000.  Suggestions welcome for nice looking business on a budget!

So far I am making a farmer's market (outdoor - food and plants), local swimming pool, local dive, cheaper health spa and a couple of small shops.  Maxis only content.  The theme is ready made starter businesses for people with slow PCs. (no fences!) Later I thought I'd do a 4esf furniture store to showcase and use all my great furniture downloads from 4esf.

Does the price get calculated properly on a community lot when you mess around with building and changing your mind?  One problem I spotted - the old base game food bins on my lot sold for 5000$, but the new OFB versions cost much less (1500?)  Have to watch for that on other community lot items. 

You're welcome.

In case you're not aware, there are "recolors" of Echo's farm stuff - more crops and some fruit trees - which can be found:

Teresa has made some at Insim:
http://www.insimenator.net/forumdisplay.php?f=46

Simaddict99 at TSR:
http://www.thesimsresource.com/artists/Simaddict99

Not sure if you know this, but now you can keep track of the cost of the lot as you are building.

When you are in buy/build mode, to the upper left is a little icon

(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a303/SimmieCal/sim-icon.jpg)


If you click on the icon this is the info you will see :
You get a running total of the cost of the lot as you build it:

(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a303/SimmieCal/build-info.jpg)

I am planning a RL wedding right now, and everything has to be paid for up front.  So I figure for a wedding chapel in the sims, I will use the money order thingy to send money to the owner of the lot before the wedding.  Then my guests don't have to pay to attend, and I can set what ever price I feel is needed for the type of wedding - formal, semi-formal, casual, etc.  There can still be  small items for sale, a working pay-bar, and other money making things.

Started a dance studio last night. Ceiling-to-floor mirrors and bright lights and, oh, snapdragons to keep everyone in a good mood. Business has been very good. Once they start smustling, they can't seem to stop.  :D

Thanks Simmiecal - That's a useful little button.  It's good if you're building from scratch on a budget, but it doesn't help me figure out why an existing community lot costs as much as it does. 

Simaddict has some recolours of echo's crops on MTS2 as well, but they have tweaked stats. Simaddict said it was too hard to make a living with Echo's stats.  I found the tweaked ones too easy - farming is supposed to be hard!  Here are some stats for one of the tweaked trees. 

Harvestable Orange Tree
Re-growth every 36 hrs, harvest value $20.-
This is the highest poly file, but still fine at 1742
Found under: Build mode> Plants>Trees
SA99-harvestOrangeTree

I haven't played them much but I do remember that some were in buy and some were in build and even the ones in build don't satisfy the want to buy a plant/shrub/tree - minor annoyances

I haven't yet read everyone else's ideas but wanted to add on the businesses I've got or had going.

My sim-self had an in-home store where she sold basically 'collectibles'.  These included things like tea sets (downloaded from Dincer and a couple of other places), music boxes (found them at MTS2), rugs, and various decorative items including potted plants.  Her hubby also made robots which they sold in the store, and they sold their kids' paintings.  As the store expanded, I started making little sections.  One corner had Japanese-themed things, like saki sets, cushions, and whatever else fit in.  This has been one of my favorite businesses so far, but probably because this is the kind of business that appeals to me--I like dealing in bric-a-brac.

Another sim and his wife own the local garden shop and nursery.  They started their first business at home selling yard things so they could earn enough to buy a community lot (they've never had jobs, just have been in business since Day 1).  It's a simple lot with just a small building for their needs (food, bathroom, etc.), where they sell things like trees, shrubs, fountains and other yard ornaments.

They also own the local internet cafe (not my idea--have to give credit for that one to someone else here).  There's a visitor-enabled computer at MTS2 that I use on that lot.  The business consists of ticket machine, 4 tables with computers, chess table and chairs, a buffet & eating area and restrooms.  It so far isn't hugely profitable but I've been tweaking the prices on the ticket machine to see how much sims will pay to get in.  The sim who owns it doesn't care much about profit, though.  She's a popularity sim and it's a perfect business for her as she ends up spending the bulk of her time socializing.  She also helps her hubby who is a money sim, run the garden shop.

Another of my sims is working toward opening an art gallery.  She just got married and wants to start a family, though, so I'll wait until her little one is school age before she actually opens the business.  This will also give her time to paint so she has some of her own work for her gallery.

I was thinking of having another sim of mine own the community park.  I figured he could also have a booth there where he sells toys, sort of an 'art in the park' kind of thing.

I've ended up re-starting my neighborhood a couple of times since OFB, so although I did re-create an entire family of sims, most of it's still in the planning stages because they're basically just getting going.

I know, though, the possibilities for the various businesses are practically endless.  I try to look at my sim and think about their personality and aspiration and come up with a business to suit them.

Edited to add because I completely forgot about this idea!  In my TS1 game I had a Downtown lot that was basically an Egyptian museum with a restaurant.  This is something I've been wanting to recreate for TS2 and have been collecting the themed objects I'll need for a long time, and now I will actually be able to have one of my sims own the lot the idea is just that much more attractive.  It will be a museum with a restaurant and a gift shop.

I've been thinking along the same lines.  I'm going to build some starter businesses for upload to TSR and I was thinking it would be useful to design them to suit different kinds of Sim.  Some will be better at crafting than others, so that part of the design is easy, but they've got to be personality and aspiration related too.  Fortune sims will have continual business wants and knowledge sims get skilling wants so they are easier to keep gold or platinum than other sims who mix a few business wants with lots of social wants.  Personality type matters though, some sims will be happy doing all the work themselves, but others won't.  Regardless of personality type, a shop for a playful sim has to make enough money that they can hire an employee and have time for some fun.  Not got any further than that yet though. 

I also have a Farmer's market - sells food and plants.  I think the food makes more money.  All maxis stuff for know.  I'm not building cool lots until the game has settled down and major bugs are ID'd and fixed.  If I lose a lot, I don't want to get too upset.

An Egyptian museum sounds great!  You might even let your Sims keep something they bought from it!

Oh yeah, that's fun.  I've got "Stinky Pete's Big Stinkin' Deals" on my SimPage right now.  He's an old fella living out of a very tacky trailer and selling moldy gross toilets, broken bathtubs, smashed dollhouses, and other useless or ugly goodies.  He got a "best of the best" award with his first visit from the shop critic.  lol

That reminds me. I am thinking about making a repair shop, a playable sim who has a repair shop in his garage...When something breaks in any other playable sim's house, I can take the broken item to the repair shop and the sim owner would fix it...I would probably have to use the teleporter to make it work...but it could...

*ponders*

Well so far I created a few template businesses that are not to expensive so my starting Sims can eventually buy them.

A carpet store called "static guard carpet store"
A mirror store calle "my reflexion"
An appliances & furniture store called "Maison Ethier"
A decoration store called "Decor away"
A discount store were everything is the cheapest or your money back (read our policy on returns)
A small Makeover store called "Hairstyle, etc."
A small painting & sculpture store called "From Picasso to Renoir"
A discotheque with dancesphere called:  "Hop-La"
A karaoke bar called "Second chance"

I am having more fun right now in creating businesses than playing with my Sims.  Of course, I package the lots I created so I won't have to do them over and over again if I want to use them in other hoods.

I just made a mirror business!  It's making loads of money for a couple of romance sims!  They are just starting out so it's a home business - they are actually using the bedroom as the showroom as there is more space in there for browsing sims.  There is a mirror on every free wall and floor tile!  I expect teens would enjoy a mirror business - they always want to gussy up etc etc.

Yup - mirrors all over the bedroom!

Cwykes mirror all over the bedroom makes me think of cheap motel rooms.  I wonder if there is a way to put one on the ceiling  ;D  Maybe you could add a hot tub in that room for "reality" purposes.  ;)

With the money they are making selling mirrors, they'll soon be able to afford a larger bedroom and a real hottub, not just the aspiration award.  That's in the garden. 

yup definitely needs a ceiling mirror! ;D

http://www.thesimsresource.com/artists/Bitzybus/downloads/sims2/search_mirror

Here is a mirror floor by Bitzybus. I KNOW I have seen a mirror ceiling, but I can't find it right now.

Speaking of ninjas, my boyfriend convinced me to make a Dr. McNinja Sim, so I did in Body Shop.  Maybe I'll make a "doctor's office" featuring a gorilla receptionist and a ninja doctor.  Whee!  ::)

Hehe, I modified one of the Maxis dorms into a Ninja dorm.  Although there's nothing "ninja" about it except the ginormous statue.  :P

(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d108/BlueSoupForYou/Sims%202/NinjaDorm.jpg)

Have ur sims wear the ninja outfits so that it will look more ninja-ish  :P

One of the reasons the owner of the nursery owns the nursery is because he could get into it for under $5,000.  It's a 2x2 lot with a small building.  All sales go on outdoors.  His wife bought the internet cafe which cost her over $20,000 so there wasn't much left for his business. LOL

Generally speaking, I don't have my sim sell stuff in her home store that I wouldn't want the other sims to keep.  Her son came in so I had her show him something I thought would look good in his home.  He bought it for 'cheap' so it'll cost him less than it would've out of Buy Mode.  I was thinking it could be fun to stock various styles of merchandise and see if any sims end up buying any particular style.  No doubt they won't, but if they did a person could base their home decorating on what they were buying on their own.

I took a picture of her store last night but I need to get my ftp program installed so I can upload it.  Maybe I'll remember to do that tomorrow.  Then again, maybe not--need to do a few other things.

BTW, I love the farm!  Once your business gets up to two or three stars you're going to find that cash register is just a little cramped there. ;)

Hmm, I don't recall anyone mentioning this (but it's been a while since this thread's been up and I barely remember yesterday's posts!): a concert hall or area. Two stages with instruments (a large for the "headliners" and a small for "supporting groups"), a bar or two, and a ticket machine of course. I've got lots of custom-made guitars downloaded and some Marshall full-stack amps, and I think someone at MTS2 has made some more stage equipment. The Sims2 Open Air Festival. How does that sound? As a matter of fact, I've already made a community lot like this, and when I get OFB I'll definitely try it out.

Thanks Simmiecal!

A 2x2 lot with no building is not only cheap, but it loads fast and is easy to play on a slow PC.

<ok, I'm trying to revive this thread because I enjoy it, I admit it :) It's not old enough to be necromancy yet.>

How about some pictures of what you're doing with businesses or how you're laying them out or the like? I know a bunch of people here are really good at building, and I'd love to see what kind of buildings their using for businesses (both home and commercial).

I'm not so creative though. I don't like my buildings as well as the ones I download and/or I'm way too lazy :) So though my sims have started with Maxis content and my poor attempts, they're planning on working their way into buying some more interesting things.

Alcander, who is running a toy store on a commercial lot, built a children's "clubhouse" around a tree (which, unless you put it at the back of the lot, is really really hard to play) and is only selling things that seem like they fit the theme. He's planning on buying CycloneSue's Jungle Treehouse as soon as he can afford it. And my knowledge pair (Galen and Marsha) are going to pick up her haunted house for their gift shop/haunted museum. Sooo... I don't have any good pics of my own (unless someone wants to see them playing in dl'd houses or how I set them up to sell stuff). But I'd love to see everyone else's :)

I'm also planning on using a house that looks like a pirate ship for another toystore (if I can't find one I like, I'll have to build it myself) and building an abandoned railrroad station converted to a cafe.

I saw another idea over at N99...Dinner Theater. The simmer who did it put it together really well.

Simmiecal where did you get the barn red wallpaper in your farm pictures?

TSR - they had a "theme week" where their creators made a bunch of farm stuff. If you check TSR out for farm stuff, I'd recommend that you check out:  CycloneSue, Windkeeper, and Simaddict99.

Ok thanks :)