Business

In The Sims 2, a business is a player-made, player-controlled shop in which practically any item can be sold. This is the primary goal in Open for Business. It is one of the more complex systems of the game.

Sims can use the phone to either start a business at home or buy a community lot. A must have item for any business is the open/closed sign. Sims may use the taxi to visit a community lot that they own. Once there, they will be able to do things such as restock the shelves, purchase items at wholesale, hire employees, be the cashier, et cetera.

Players can send playable Sims to community lot businesses owned by other Sims. If this is done, autonomous versions of the owner, manager (if any), and employees (if any) will appear. This can only be done if no members of the owner's household were on that lot when it was last saved. If a player wants to use a community lot business in that way, and that business has a cash register, the player should assign an employee to be cashier, otherwise the register will be unstaffed when playable Sims are sent there.

Selling or Transferring a business
Ownership of a home business cannot be transferred in any way, though it can pass to another household member when the owner dies. The deed to a community lot business can be sold back to the community, or placed on sale. It can also transferred to another household member. If Seasons or later is installed, the deed to a community lot can be given as a gift, as it is in the owner's inventory. However, transferring a deed in this way will not successfully transfer ownership of the lot.

If a community lot business is transferred in any way other than being sold back to the community, its employees, customer loyalty, and business rank go with it. However, business perks do not travel with the deed.

Examples of Types of Businesses

 * Restaurants
 * Bakeries
 * Grocery stores
 * Fish and/or produce markets
 * Entertainment venues
 * Toy store
 * Furniture store
 * Florist
 * Pet store
 * Electronics Shop
 * Occult shops
 * Clothing Store (With FreeTime, sewn outfits and curtains can be sold.)
 * Art gallery (Sim-made paintings can be sold.)
 * Pottery shop (With FreeTime, Sim-made pottery can be sold.)
 * Salon & Spa (With the massage table from Bon Voyage, massages can be sold.)
 * Car lot (With FreeTime, restored cars can be sold.)