I have thought about playing my game this way, and I'm in the middle of setting up my game for it now! I want to do an integrated hood, building things up from scratch. The plan for that hood is to have sims buy raw materials first before they can get an item, and then later transition into buying directly from stores. I'm still deciding how much detail I want in that hood. TadOlson, I like that I idea of buying anything from buy mode on a community lot. One of the ideas I was tossing around for that hood was having a trading post or return point, for lacking of a better term. Sims would travel there to buy all the goods they couldn't make or get back home in the main hood. And by purchasing directly from the catalog on a community lot (using a Buy/Build enabler, in case anyone is confused) means less things for me to set up initially. And that's always the challenge--setting up how I want to play takes so long.
But I'm also planning a megahood, for which I'm building for right now. I'm working on Pleasantview, making little neighborhoods out of the city blocks and setting up some stores along with community lots as I go. As you say, Bellisa, it's a big process. I sort of stopped building to work on cleaning up my Download folder a bit. It did get a bit overwhelming trying to figure out what should sold where and for how much. Because I have a large Downloads folder (about 23 GB now) I really had to stop and clean it out. I didn't want to go through the trouble of setting up my stores with a bunch of cc I didn't really want to use. But on the bright side, organizing my cc has given me a head start in thinking about pricing, and what items I might consider cheaper, average, or expensive.
I can tell you how I'm planning my stores, though. Years ago, on my first attempt at this, I did try those big box stores, with everything I could possibly fit from one category in it, but I didn't really like that. I didn't really care about the outside of the lots at the time, and so they were kind of eyesores, plus I could tell it was just not going to be fun to shop there. Not to mention that if I wanted to display several recolors of an item, it would soon be a nightmare. Even if I didn't display recolors of furniture, there's no way that'd work for art. So when I started planning my megahood this time around, I took some cues from other simmers and real life. There are a few simmers that let sims purchase items and develop sims' personalities and stories/events around that, and that idea is really attractive to me. I also want to get to a slowed down integrated style of play where, yes, my sim goes to the store and goes furniture hunting for that perfect piece to go in the living room. Or while out getting some ice cream, they see a toy store and pick up something for their grandkid. Details like that is kind of my end goal. And while I would love for some playable sims to run stores, I will make some townies that I'll consider npcs so that I don't have to touch the stores again, unless I download new things.
So, yeah, this time around I started with the lots first and worried about lot size and what could fit later. Obviously, for furniture stores and things requiring more space, I'll need bigger lots, but a lot of them are small, 2x1 and 2x2. You can fit a surprising amount of stuff on those lot sizes, and some of the stores will be 2 stories, so there's that. Again, I do plan on having a few "big box stores" in the style of a Walmart or Target or Loews, etc. that will sell those bigger items as well as novelty things or other odds and ends that don't really fit in another store. But otherwise, I'm designing the retail space first and the shops second. I sat down thought about what stores every subhood would need or likely have, and planned a little about the types of things I'd see in which areas. In my mind, Downtown is the central hub with everything available. The type of stores I'd build there have a wider range. In Pleasantview, which is what I'm working on now, things will be a bit more restricted. I guess you could say the historical society is strict about what businesses get a license in Pleasantview. I see it as more family-centric and the stores will reflect that; my Pleasantview will be more about antique shops and malls. I'll save the liquor stores and gambling dens for Downtown.
For furniture I'm going to try to do a bunch of showrooms, with a few select items and recolors on display, so different stores would carry different types and qualities of items. Cheaper vs expensive but also modern vs antique. And this would vary by location within a subhood, too. So for Pleasantview, the expensive antique store will be next to the old victorian-turned tea house and the historical society. The strip mall next to the Caliente and Lothario condos will have a few higher end and modern furniture stores. A lot of Veranka's modern sets like the Into the Future sets and the Duo and Io bathrooms might be sold in those shops. Then in the center of town, where the outlet is, those stores will have the Kitchen Basics and some mid-range items.
For clutter and deco items, I'll weave those in throughout other types of stores, giving me a reason to have multiple stores of a type. At first, I thought, there's no need to have more than one clothing store or even a shoe store. But then I realized, that's exactly how I can sell my clutter in stores. I can have that edgy teen punk clothing store and make it sell clutter like shoes and hats, but also those band poster recolors and other deco I might put in a teen's room. Then in the upscale women's clothing store, I can put out handbags and makeup, etc. And when I build my community lots, I'll think of items that could be sold on the lot, too. Like that historical society will also have an art gallery, and yeah, sims can visit it and treat it like a museum, but they could also buy fine art for their homes. And maybe the coffee shop on main street sells mugs and thermoses. The hardware store sells small appliances and the tinkering tools and clutter. Maybe the library is also a bookstore that sells school supplies. Etc., etc. In this way, I have more stores to put items on display and my sims have a wider variety of stores to choose from, and can shop at places closer matching to their personality or financial situation.
Anyway, I haven't gotten to decorating the stores yet, but I have build some of the shells; I'll attach some pictures. Pleasantview is more of a planned and uniform community so for these lots, they all have the same outside aesthetic. That's nice for me because then I don't have to make myself crazy trying to come up with unique ideas for each lot. And I've really started to like the attached building look. I create a store template based on one or two roof possible roof lines and then shrink it down with the lot adjuster. I can decorate the outside, save the lot, and bam I have a shopping complex by putting down copies of the lot. Before I know it, I'm ready to start decorating shops. Or I can add or remove a few walls here and there for a more unique line of shops--one can be 3 story, one can be 2 story, or maybe all the roofs connect, but one store has an awning and another store's facade recesses in a tile. Etc. Building templates has been a time saver and planning little shopping centers has been a lot of fun for me.
It still takes a while and I flitter from project to project (I'm redoing all the lots in Pleasantview, homes and stores), but that's okay. I realised that part of the planning and building is the fun part for me. So with this hood I'm taking my time to set up things how I like it and I just play other hoods in the meantime.