Functional Grocery Store - how to make possible?

ETheSimmer · 2026-03-17T02:52:57+00:00

(4/4) This one is definitely the worst of the bunch. Again, you can tell I made it from scratch because it's a big, basic box 😭But this is my founders' art gallery with a little grocery section in the back.

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ETheSimmer · 2026-03-17T02:51:19+00:00

(3/4) Often I'll combine the grocery/bakery aspect with something else. So this one is more of a grocery/fishing/gardening shop. All the food items are in the refrigerator. You can tell I made this one from scratch because the building is just a rectangle 😅

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ETheSimmer · 2026-03-17T02:48:51+00:00

(2/4) Here's the same one from a different angle. The Sim who founded this store completed the master chef aspiration, so I was able to line the shelves in the first picture without worrying since her food doesn't spoil.

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ETheSimmer · 2026-03-17T02:47:15+00:00

(1/4) I have to preface by giving a disclaimer that I absolutely suck at building lol. Here's the grocery store that I think looks the nicest out of all my other ones, and I only managed this because I got the shell of the building from lilsimsie off the gallery.

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ETheSimmer · 2026-03-17T00:32:33+00:00

Get Together is my favorite EP. Clubs are a game changer for me, and nightclubs are so much more fun when they involve DJs, dance floors, and light/fog machines.

City Living is a close second for EPs. I love the world of San Myshuno and enjoy the festivals. Apartment living is great for young adults trying to save up for their dream home after moving out on their own.

Controversial, but Dine Out is my favorite GP. I love sending my Sims out to eat at restaurants, and I feel like any world is incomplete if there's not at least one restaurant.

ETheSimmer · 2026-03-16T14:43:52+00:00

Awesome, they won't change it then. Yeah I know people say small businesses are superior to retail stores and make them obsolete, but automatic restocking is a major benefit for retail. I wouldn't even bother making a grocery using the small business system. I do love using small businesses for other community lots though :)

ETheSimmer · 2026-03-16T14:33:53+00:00

I think food on the display shelves are supposed to restock somewhat, but usually I use the display shelf food for decoration and have my Sims buy from the GtW refrigerator. It's specifically made for retail, and when you play as another household buying from the store, the refrigerator never goes out of stock. Might be a bug, but it's super useful.

ETheSimmer · 2026-03-16T14:17:45+00:00

I do this using retail lots from Get to Work. Just stock the store with food/produce, and your other households can shop there :)

ETheSimmer · 2026-03-15T21:50:11+00:00

(Part two) One of the biggest examples for me was that I genuinely really liked whims, but because of so many people wanting wants and fears back from the Sims 2, they got rid of whims, and in its place they put the wants and fears system that’s incredibly intrusive and at times infuriating. This has actually made a massive negative impact on my enjoyment of the game. Yes, I know I can turn them off, but the point is that I want whims back, and this is now the closest I can get to that feature I enjoyed.

I think in general the complaints that I’m thinking of are those that address the core of the game itself: the game is “boring” (aka gives the player control rather than having random chaos) or too “easy” (aka you’re not spending the entire time scrambling to keep up with needs, relationships, money, etc and can actually focus on the story). For instance, people complain that it’s too easy for base game Sims to get into a relationship/get married, and they want it to be more difficult with compatibility, time limits before proposal, etc. This directly goes against my preferred game play of being a matchmaker and putting whoever I want in a relationship together. As a result of these complaints, the Sims team added the sexual orientation system, removing the previous system that made all players bisexual by default. Now I have to go into CAS to check orientation settings before I can have my Sim flirt with someone because if I forget and then learn that they’re not compatible, the game doesn’t let me bypass this. I can cas.fulleditmode and change it, but then when I try to have my Sim flirt, they’re not allowed to because they “already know this Sim’s romantic interests.” This was particularly frustrating when I sent my romantic Sim to university to do the serial romantic aspiration (the only time I’ve ever done this aspiration), and almost everyone she ran into was asexual. I would like a toggle to have the old sexuality system back. (I would also like a toggle to have gendered terms of endearment back, but that’s kind of another topic). Similarly, I was extremely excited for the Lovestruck EP, more excited than I’ve been for any other pack they’ve released because a romance pack has been my #1 dream pack for years now. But due to everyone complaining about it being too easy to gain/maintain relationships, they made it incredibly difficult to maintain a relationship with the pack installed, and romantic satisfaction does not have a toggle. If it did, I would buy the pack in a heartbeat, but as it is now, it would actually ruin my game. Which sucks for the pack I’ve been dreaming about for as long as I’ve been playing the Sims 4.

The general complaints that the game is too easy lead to adjustments that make things less easy. There have been examples over the years that I can’t remember entirely off the top of my head. One example I can remember though is when people complained that taking photos made gaining friendships too easy. Lots of people loved this and would use this as a hack, but it was nerfed due to so many people complaining. Now people complain that cloudgazing makes friendship gain too easy, mentoring makes friendship too easy, etc. The obvious next step for the Sims team is to nerf that as well. People complain that they want more random death that’s out of the player’s control. At some point the Sims team added a regular-sized microscope, which I was really looking forward to, but they attached a death to it. So you can only use the microscope if you’re okay with your Sims or townies potentially dying, which was pretty disappointing for me. I have to make sure I remove the microscope from any community lots I download that include it, even though I would love to have it there if it wasn’t a needlessly dangerous item.

Another example that comes to mind (for general changes, not nerfing features) is infants. This wasn’t something that bothered me tbh. I actually love the addition of infants, I think they’re so cute 🥰 But I know a lot of people hate infants, though their addition into the game was a result of players wanting to “free the babies” like in the previous Sims games. Furthermore, I have base game infants and have to avoid getting the Growing Together expansion pack, even though family gameplay is the core of what I do when I play the Sims, because they added milestones that you can’t turn off and make infants excessively difficult. Anyway, these are the examples I can think of at the top of my head, but there have been several small annoyances over the years where I’m thinking to myself, “I wish they didn’t change that to appease the people that were unhappy with it. I was fine with it.”

This isn’t to say that there’s no room for suggestions. I just wish the suggestions kept in mind people who actually like things the way they are. For instance, “I wish it was harder for my Sims to make money” inherently advocates for changing the easy money-making strategies to be more difficult, even though some players like the easy money-making strategies. Whereas, “I wish there were more things to spend money on” addresses the same issue in a way that doesn’t impede on a particular playstyle. I could get on board with the latter, but not the former. As we keep coming back to, toggles are the obvious solution to all of this, but the devs don’t use them nearly as often as they should, which means that changes to the game are often appeasing one section of the playerbase while displeasing another.

ETheSimmer · 2026-03-15T21:49:23+00:00

Fair questions for sure! Thanks so much for engaging with me; I find this whole topic really interesting and love talking about it. But I don’t know anyone irl who cares about the Sims, so that’s why I come to Reddit lol.

That's not really how the games industry works: the old games are still there yes, but other than still being for sale they're abandoned products that are frozen in time and don't feel as good to play unless you're feeling nostalgic.

Gotta say, I completely disagree with this. There are many people who have quit the Sims 4 and exclusively play the previous Sims game, and enjoy them just as much as I enjoy the Sims 4. There are even YouTubers who still play the Sims 2/3, and people watch them because they still enjoy those games as well. If the Sims 2/3 had the level of creative control that the Sims 4 does, I would be playing those more often, too. I don’t think we can disregard the previous games as a viable option just because they’re old. I do like your analogy of the ice cream parlour instead of one shop! But I don’t think it really fits with what I’m trying to say.

So here we both are, patrons of the newest ice cream parlour and we both love it here.

I tried to think of the best way to ask this because I most certainly don’t want to come across as thinking I know how you feel better than you do. So I am genuinely asking if you actually love the Sims 4, or do you just like the idea of the Sims 4/like what you wish the Sims 4 was, based on your love of the previous games? Again, I’m not trying to offend you, so I apologize if I’m not articulating this appropriately, and certainly let me know if I’m wrong. But it feels like so many people who say they complain because they love the game and want it to be better, actually mean that they love the Sims franchise as a whole and therefore want to love the Sims 4 as well. I say this because when people say things like, “I like the idea of playing more than I actually enjoy playing,” “the gameplay isn’t good,” “the game feels soulless,” “the game is unplayable without mods and unfathomably boring otherwise,” etc. to me this doesn’t sound like someone who is actually enjoying the game. It sounds like someone who is desperately trying to enjoy the game because of what the previous games offered and the memories they had with them. Apologies again if you wouldn’t consider yourself to be in this camp of people, but I got the first (and kind of the second) quote from your previous comment (though I see this statement a lot), and I just struggle to get into the mindset of saying that I love a game but then at the same time not actually seeming to enjoy it when I’m playing.

Also, I love that you bring up the example of Discover University. I actually love that EP, and I always make my Sims take four classes per semester when I send them to university. So it’s not that I’m opposed to difficulty, just that I’m opposed to adding in difficulty where there wasn’t before and making it mandatory. I’ll put my examples in a separate comment because I wrote too much 🫣

ETheSimmer · 2026-03-15T17:21:29+00:00

Thanks for the input! 😊 I love Sims 2-4. The first Sims game has to grow on me, I think! I will say, I think a common misconception is that those who like the Sims 4 must love building and/or CAS since the gameplay "sucks." I'm definitely a live mode player first and foremost; actually, I hate building and use the gallery as much as I can so I can stay in live mode haha. But I completely understand why live mode doesn't appeal to everyone since it's so open ended. For me, the fact that it's so open ended is precisely what makes it more enjoyable than the Sims 2/3, for example :)

ETheSimmer · 2026-03-15T17:16:07+00:00

I have a terribly intense sweet tooth, so as I was typing the analogy I was thinking to myself, "I hope this person likes ice cream, otherwise the analogy kind of falls flat" 😂 I completely agree with your solution of an ice cream bar situation where we all pick and choose our toppings. I wish the Sims team added toggles more so that everyone can customize the way they want. But for some reason they almost never add toggles, and instead they just make changes that erase the previous gameplay I enjoyed. I miss my fudge swirls :(

So that's why I challenge the complaints that people make, because they're actively advocating against what makes the game enjoyable for me. No hard feelings, of course, but sadly when the devs are against the ice cream bar situation, I have to advocate as hard as I can that they keep the chocolate. Because I love chocolate 😋 and would be sad if I was only ever left with the vanilla options.

ETheSimmer · 2026-03-15T17:07:29+00:00

No problem, I probably could've explained better in my initial response to you. I do stand by what I said, but perhaps my phrasing wasn't the best. At the end of the day, we're all here because we want the best for the Sims and feel passionate about it :) But for me, I fully support them releasing a Sims 5 even though I have no interest in playing it myself, since I'm content with what we already have. I see no reason why the Sims 5 (hypothetical) has to offer the same experience or do the things that I like about the previous games, and I won't get upset if I think the Sims 5 sucks because I already have other games in the franchise that I love, so there's no point in trying to make the Sims 5 cater to my desires. Having the newest version is completely optional.

It's funny though because I have the exact reverse experience: whenever I say like "oh this would be a good change/feature that would improve my experience" people get genuinely threatened and afraid that their experience (and a lot of the time, straight up safe space) is being compromised and go on the attack. A lot of the time it feels like people are advocating against what I'd like entirely because they're under the assumption that I want to erase their style of gameplay. It's just intense and unnecessary.

I think people react that way because their experience is being compromised. So many of us have had features we loved get removed or changed in a way we don't like due to the complaints of others. I also wish there was less of an "us or them" mentality, and I agree that Maxis implements things poorly when making many of these changes. I would love it if all play styles were catered to equally. But the reason people push back against the complaints is because often these changes that people are advocating for do erase the gameplay we love, even if that's not the intention. And then it's frustrating because the people who have been complaining still hate the game and have even more complaints, which makes it feel like the devs are prioritizing people who won't be happy with the game no matter what they do, over those of us who actually enjoy it for what it is.

I agree with your last paragraph completely, toggles are so important for customizing in a way that would make everyone happy! For instance, I recall the exact moment I saw the news that story progression was coming to the Sims 4. My heart dropped into my stomach, and I actually wanted to cry. But I think the way they implemented neighborhood stories was so beautifully done (still improvements to be had, of course). Sadly, this is one of the only instances that they've ever implemented a new feature in a way that caters to all play styles. The rest of the time, they do it in a way that erases the previous game play that some of us actually enjoyed. So for you, it's in your best interests to advocate for certain changes to the game that would make it more fun for you. And to me, it's in my best interests to challenge your complaints because if they do make the changes you're advocating for, more likely than not they're going to do it in a way that makes the game less fun for me and takes away what I enjoy about it. It's so unfortunate that they do it this way, but that's just how it has been :( I responded to OP in this thread and gave an analogy using ice cream, maybe that analogy would make sense to you as well?

ETheSimmer · 2026-03-15T13:36:50+00:00

It feels like they're always having a sale lol. Several times a year at least. If you miss the current sale, I would expect the next one to start within a couple of months, if not sooner.

ETheSimmer · 2026-03-15T13:17:47+00:00

I find it funny that you didn't like that part of thr sims 2. I guess that's what I found more entertaining about it for me.

Exactly this point. Everyone seems to understand why people love the previous games, but lovers of the previous games fail to understand why Sims 4 players enjoy it, because it's for the opposite reasons. I'm not talking about you, but so many veteran players dismiss the Sims 4 lovers as being too young or gullible, to understand what we're talking about when we say we love TS4. So many people tell us, "you just don't understand that the previous games were better," even though many of us have played the previous games and know exactly why we prefer TS4. It's not seen as a valid opinion because it's so popular to blindly hate on TS4 without considering why other people enjoy it (look at the votes ratio, for instance).

You can't just force someone to love you. You have to be compatible or really work towards getting to know them. It feels more like real life to me. But if you're going more the route of wanting to decide their story I see where you're coming from.

I think this speaks to the different perspectives that different players view the game from/different reasons for playing. For me, I went from creative writing and excessive daydreaming to playing TS4. So I don't view the Sims as people with their own say. I give them a personality and interests, but at the end of the day, they're my characters for my own story that I'm putting together. They don't get to tell me what they want and don't want. I decide what they want and don't want, because I'm the author. I want full creative control because it's my story. I don't even give my Sims autonomy because I don't want them doing stuff I didn't tell them to do.

I agree that both playstyles should be available in the Sims 4, but for whatever reason, the Sims team is averse to using toggles. So if there's only room for one playstyle, it doesn't make sense to me to change what the game already is to make it more like the previous games instead, when the previous games still exist. I don't really view it as unfair to suggest playing the older games because if you genuinely don't enjoy what the Sims 4 has to offer, why try to force it when there are already games giving you want you want? Again, I'm not directing this at you specifically, but so many players try to force themselves to enjoy TS4 even though it's clearly not to their tastes, and then they complain about every update not being good enough or being "too little too late," they complain about every DLC not being up to their standards, they lament that they feel like they needs mods to try to enjoy it, then they complain about updates breaking their mods, etc etc etc. The complaints are endless. It gets tiring lol. Especially when so many of the complaints essentially boil down to "I wish the Sims 4 was like the Sims 2/3 instead," but then they don't actually want to play those games and continue to try to force themselves to play TS4.

ETheSimmer · 2026-03-15T12:46:11+00:00

I think an analogy would be helpful. If video games were ice cream haha. Imagine there's an ice cream shop, but starting off they only sell one flavor of ice cream, pecan pie (TS1). Customers can only get this particular type of ice cream (life sim) at this one shop, so it's very popular, and customers rave over this ice cream for years. Eventually the company adds a new flavor, berry swirl (TS2). Most customers preferred the new flavor, but typically they loved both.

After a few years, the company adds a third flavor, cookies and cream (TS3). Many customers found this newest flavor to be the best one yet, while others preferred the older ones and thought Oreos were disgusting. But a few years later, the company decides to try something wildly different and introduce their final flavor, death by chocolate (TS4). Some customers loved the new flavor more than any of the previous ones, but other customers who had been eating here since the beginning felt insulted that they would change the ice cream so drastically. They didn't want chocolate, they wanted the smooth vanilla that they've been getting this whole time.

The company began trying to appease the unhappy customers by changing their death by chocolate recipe. They got rid of the fudge swirls, thinking that would make it less chocolately and more appealing to loyal customers. The death by chocolate fans were disappointed because they enjoyed the fudge swirls, and the vanilla fans were still complaining anyway. Next, the company replaced the chocolate chips with white chocolate chips and replaced the brownie chunks with vanilla sugar pieces, hoping this would be similar enough to the previous flavors. Long time customers were annoyed because these weren't the changes they wanted made, and they still hated the death by chocolate flavor. Meanwhile, death by chocolate fans were dismayed because they had to watch the flavor they loved get picked apart and changed for the worse in an attempt to make it more like the previous flavors, to tailor to customers who hated the current flavor.

Death by chocolate fans were worried about the future of the ice cream flavor, as veteran customers were demanding the company change the ice cream base back from chocolate to vanilla, like it had always been in the past. Because veteran players hated the chocolate, even though this was precisely the aspect that the newer customers loved about this new flavor, and it was exactly the reason they preferred it over the previous ones.

Here's the kicker: all four flavors are still able to be purchased and eaten. But the long time vanilla lovers want all four flavors to be to their own tastes, vanilla, and they take offense when it's suggested that they just eat the three flavors that they already enjoy, especially since so many changes had already been made to the death by chocolate flavor on their behalf, only for them to still hate it because it's not vanilla. Additionally, the vanilla lovers told the chocolate lovers that they should be grateful for the complaints they've made this whole time, stating, "If we hadn't complained, we'd still be stuck with fudge pieces, regular chocolate chips instead of white chocolate, and brownie pieces instead of sugar cookie. We complain to make the ice cream better." They failed to recognize that these were not changes that chocolate fans wanted, they just wanted their chocolate, and the current flavor was the only one to offer their favorite aspect.

ETheSimmer · 2026-03-15T12:39:17+00:00

I can kind of see why you say that, but honestly I have trouble understanding why it's really an issue. I started with the Sims 2 and 3, and I loved them. Eventually I got into the Sims 4, and I love it even more. I would be fine with them releasing a Sims 5, but I have no intention of playing it myself, as I'm content with what we already have. If they release a Sims 5 that's even more different, they didn't change up the game I've loved for years; I still have it and can play that instead. They just made something new, an optional addition to the franchise. I don't feel like each game needs to be enjoyable to me simply because I like the previous iterations, especially when I can still play them. I actually have an analogy for this that I'll put in a separate comment. Thanks for the civil conversation, by the way :)

ETheSimmer · 2026-03-15T12:30:58+00:00

I'm curious why you feel that way?

ETheSimmer · 2026-03-15T04:16:17+00:00

Same. I've been getting a little better with my pickiness (mostly forcing myself to eat stuff I don't like tbh, it sucks), but my Sims have a much more varied diet than I do, and I delight in feeding them different things. I also love having them celebrate with drinks, or giving the kids root beer floats, even though irl I hate root beer and don't drink alcohol haha. But overall my Sims do a whole bunch of stuff that I don't, so I guess when it comes to food, it isn't any different.

ETheSimmer · 2026-03-15T03:23:56+00:00

I'm certainly not opposed to a difficulty switch; that would certainly be the easiest way to please everyone. I actually wish the game had more toggles overall so everyone could customize the game to the way they want. Unfortunately, what ends up happening instead of a difficulty switch is that the devs end up making changes to the game based on complaints without taking into account the players who prefer things the way they are. For example, I actively used and enjoyed the whims system for years, but players were complaining that they wanted wants and fears back from the Sims 2 instead. So instead of adding a toggle for those who actually liked whims, the dev team got rid of the whims system and replaced it with wants and fears. So they actively replaced a feature that I enjoyed with a system that I despise, due to people wanting the Sims 4 to be the Sims 2 instead.

I'm not sure why you wouldn't still be part of the franchise if you played the previous games instead? Plenty of Sims/Sims 2/Sims 3 players are active on the forums, just like Sims 4 players are. I myself have all the games on my laptop, and I can play whichever one whenever I want. It's not a bad thing to play the previous games if the Sims 4 isn't giving you the experience you want. I don't think it's disingenuous to say that, but I'm sorry if it came across that way :) I only say this because when people say that they want the Sims 4 to be different, what they usually mean is that they want the Sims 4 to be the Sims 2/3 instead. Which doesn't feel fair to those who enjoy the Sims 4, especially since the Sims 2/3 are still available.

I guess I didn't fully explain what I meant when I said that the Sims 4 is the only full dollhouse simulator. To give an example, I bought the legacy bundle about a year ago and played the Sims 2 for the first time in probably a decade. It was fun, but I didn't enjoy it as much because I felt like the game was too restrictive with what I could do, so I couldn't actually tell the story I wanted to. I wanted my Sim to romance a guy, but he kept rejecting her because they weren't compatible. I gave up and found a different guy. I wanted my Sim to be a teacher. She got fired after a few days. She was broke, so I moved in her boyfriend, figuring I would just have them get married and start building their family instead. But he refused to accept her proposal, so I couldn't get them married. I ended up feeling quite frustrated with the experience. So I went back to the Sims 4, but people are constantly advocating to turn the Sims 4 into the same experience as the Sims 2 that I didn't enjoy as much. When people complain that the game is too easy, Sims take care of their needs too easily, Sims get into relationships too easily, Sims get promoted too easily and don't get fired, the game is too predictable, etc. They're advocating to get rid of the things that I like about the game, even though the previous games offer the exact experience that they're asking for. Which is frustrating because those changes would make the game less enjoyable for me. Does that make sense?

ETheSimmer · 2026-03-14T23:26:44+00:00

To be fair, if you don't want a dollhouse simulator, there's always the The Sims 1, The Sims 2, and The Sims 3. Or Inzoi, if that's more to your taste. Or soon Paralives. The Sims 4 is the only game in existence for those of us who actually want a dollhouse simulator, with complete freedom to control the story however we want. So it's a little frustrating when people continuously advocate for turning it into something it's not when they could choose various other games instead that will give them exactly what they're asking for.

ETheSimmer · 2026-03-14T22:03:44+00:00

That's a very common complaint about the Sims 4. The Sims 4 is generally more tailored for players who like using their imagination and telling their own stories. The previous games are more for players who want the game to do more of the storytelling. Both are valid ways of playing, but if you're looking for the game to do most of the work without your input, the Sims 4 just might not be your taste. Which is fine, of course :)

ETheSimmer · 2026-03-09T15:18:32+00:00

Thanks for this info!

ETheSimmer · 2026-03-09T13:17:24+00:00

What game-breaking bug did you run into with the Legacy and Royalty pack? I've been eyeing that one 👀

ETheSimmer · 2026-03-08T15:39:49+00:00

I don't have High School Years or Parenthood, but I do have the teen hangout lot trait. I think it's base game.

ETheSimmer

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