In The Sims 4, Get To Work gives you the chance to design, build, and run your own retail store. The word retail is a broad term and the functionality of retail stores in The Sims 4 is just as big. You can sell almost anything: clothing, furniture, electronics, art, books. You can even start a bakery. All you need to set up a retail store is a cash register and a little starting capital.
In this guide, we take you through how to open a retail store, what the best items to stock are, how to set profit margins, and how to make your store more appealing. We also look at how to maximize your profits.
THEGAMER VIDEO OF THE DAY
Updated August 9, 2021, By Helen Ashcroft: As The Sims 4 continues to grow new packs can add new features to old expansions and retail stores are a great example of this. As more content has become available there are more options than ever before to flex your sales skills. With this in mind, we've updated this guide to make sure all the information is up to date in line with changes to both the base game and new features added through other packs. We've also added some retail store ideas for things you can sell, from clothing stores to garden centers.
Opening A Retail Store In The Sims 4
If you want to own a business you can of course head over to Magnolia Promenade. This new world, that comes with the Get To Work expansion pack, contains three pre-built retail stores, as well as an empty lot. However, these stores are expensive to purchase and one of the joys of retail is that you can start from virtually nothing.
All you need to open a shop is a plot set to retail, a cash register, and something to sell.
You can of course buy a home and then a retail store but one of the easiest ways to start out is by buying a home plot then building your starter home on your retail plot. This means you can open and close your store at will without having to keep traveling. Once your store expands you can always use the gallery to move your home back onto its original plot.
Related: Things You Need To Know Before You Buy Get To Work
To purchase a retail plot make sure you've adjusted the plot type on your desired lot beforehand and then press the cash register icon in the bottom right of the screen. This will allow you to purchase the plot. It will then open a tab you can use to adjust retail options.
Owning A Business, In Your Garden
Once you have purchased your store you just need to set some items for sale, open the store, and customers will begin to appear. The retail store above was created by placing a cash register and display shelf in a pagoda in a starter home garden. As you can see customers will still visit and you can make sales.
You can sell almost anything from the build and buy catalog, enabling you to tailor your store. Customers will buy whatever is set for sale, as long as you can convince them to do so.
To start out small items worth quite a lot are a good choice, as long as you've got the simoleons to purchase the stock. This is because profit is based on a percentage of the sale price.
Making Those Retail Sales
Talking to customers is the best way to start making sales. This is the biggest driver of profit as customers will rarely just appear and purchase items, at least not until you have a far nicer retail store.
You'll see options to discuss price range, answer questions, and talk about preferences with customers once they arrive. If you check the dialogue window at the top you can also see if they are showing an interest in a product. These prompts can help you steer the conversation towards a sale.
Related: The Sims 4 Dine Out: Guide To Running A Five Star Restaurant
When a customer is ready to purchase they will have a blue simoleon icon above their head. You can then click this to ring up the sale. The item will disappear and you'll gain the money. For some reason, your Sim will rarely use the cash register and will instead ring up items on an iPad.
You can keep selling for as long as you like but remember to close the store when you need to attend to your Sims needs to prevent irate customers.
Once the day is over you'll get a report of your sales for the day and can see how much you've made. If you have staff, the cost of this will also appear in your summary.
Hiring staff is best avoided until you have a store big and busy enough that you cannot handle it alone.
Once you do hire them you'll need to keep their hours reasonable, their mood high, and train them where you can. Otherwise, you'll find that they drive customers away, rather than bringing in those simoleons.
Retail is an area where you can grow your store quickly and the more you can invest the quicker you can start making larger profits.
How Retail Store Profit Margins Work In The Sims 4
The store above is selling electronics due to their small size and high price. Every item will sell for a specific amount above its retail price. Your margins start at 25 percent and you can increase these to 100 percent, meaning you double your investment. As such the more expensive items you can sell and the higher the margin, the quicker you'll make more money.
Related: Sims 4: A Complete Guide To Making Money
However, the higher the margin the harder items are to sell so it's best to keep it at 25 percent or 50 percent until you have a more established store. The items above were set to 50 percent and it still proved quite difficult to shift them from the pagoda store. This is because your store's appearance also matters.
The Curb Appeal Of Sims 4 Retail Stores
While you can start off in your garden, long term that isn't going to cut it. You'll need to build a dedicated store in order to increase your curb appeal. Your curb appeal rating isn't visible anywhere but is basically a hidden score based on how appealing your store is. If you've ever played with , or Restaurants in Dine Out, the criteria are basically the same.
A building is the first thing you need. After that flooring, wallpaper, lighting, windows, and space all increase appeal. Space allowing customers to freely walk and browse will also help you to make sales with less effort. You can also add decor items inside and out to further boost the store's rating. The more appealing your store is, the more customers will appear without having to use any perks to increase footfall.
Retail Perks In The Sims 4
As you make sales you'll earn perk points which can be spent in the retail perks menu. These are like satisfaction points but retail-specific. The perks aren't as good as they could be but will allow you to restock items cheaper and increase your footfall.
Related: Sims 4: Guide To Different Career Types
Some are one-time purchases and others can be purchased again and again, allowing you to use your points to save money and increase sales, making this a limited but worthwhile feature.
Retail Store Ideas
While there are no major limits on what you can sell, theming your store can help increase the curb appeal. The stores that come prebuilt with the pack are themed but you can do it yourself. Here are a few ideas:
Beach Side Store
Island Living owners can set up a beachside store. A small wooden airy shack by the beach does the job perfectly and you can even include an area to relax and enjoy close by, making it feel like a resort.
There are a few odd items you cannot sell - including sunscreen and inflatables - which can be annoying, but you can still add such items for looks. Thanks to the retail fridge you can sell drinks, fruit, and cooked or baked items. You can also sell towels, various nautical-themed decorations, and even catamarans. Add some mannequins and you can also sell swimwear.
Magical Items Store
Budding spellcasters can set up a magical supplies store and sell most Realm of Magic items. These include furniture, cauldrons, wand cases, and even brewed potions.
A witches cottage amidst the trees would be a perfect place to peddle potions and cauldrons, share your knowledge with the Glimmerbrook residents, and reveal your spellcasting secrets.
Winter Sports Store
For those with Snowy Escape, Winter Sports equipment is also sellable. Why not set up near the slopes and peddle your wares? You can sell skis, snowboards, toboggans, tents, winter clothing, and accessories.
The community areas are often bustling and are surely a great place to allow you Sims to buy the equipment they need with a personal touch, rather than out of a vending machine? We've still not entirely sure how they fit the skis in there anyway.
Pet Store
While you cannot sell actual pets, you can sell everything that goes along with them. This includes pet beds, food bowls, toys, decorative items, and thanks to the fridge from Cats & Dogs, you can also craft and sell pet treats.
While you may want a Vet Clinic as well, opening a pet store is equally as viable and offers a neat way to sell pet essentials to anyone who loves their furry friends.
Themed Clothing Store
The mannequins allow you to sell pretty much every item of clothing in the game. This means that depending on the packs you own you can make a general clothing store or theme it to be incredibly niche. Here are a few extra ideas for types of clothing you could sell:
- Sportswear
- Swimwear
- Outdoor Clothing
- Gothic/Alternative Clothing
- Retro Clothing
- Upmarket Dresses and Tuxedos
- Men's Clothing
- Kid's Clothing
- Toddler's Clothing
- Seasonal Wear
Just remember that you can only have a maximum of ten mannequins per store so this does limit you. However, there is a mod called Mannequin Upper by Lemony Lin that removes this limit. Just be aware that mannequins are essentially blank Sims in terms of the game code so too many on one lot will make it very laggy.
Combining Sims 4 Packs In Other Ways
Most other DLC packs will combine well with Get To Work's retail store mechanics, meaning you can sell almost anything this way. There are other ways to sell goods, including market stalls available in City Living, Jungle Adventure, and Eco Lifestyle, as well as the Plopsy feature that came with Nifty Knitting. However, if you want to own an actual store Get To Work will allow you to sell items purchased or produced using other packs.
If you want to sell paintings, handmade clothing, fizzy drinks, candles, or fabricated furniture then you can. Very few items are exempt from being marked for sale. Virtually anything you can purchase or create using the in-game skills can be sold in a retail store, allowing for a huge amount of possibilities.
It's this flexibility combined with the low start-up costs that mean running a retail store is a great and profitable way to venture into owning your own business.
Next:
