Nope. Still can't play as a customer and purchase from owned retail stores.
Still broken.
We have all these things we can make and sell in retail shops - bakery goods, crystal creations, pizza, nectar, etc - but our shops are useless except when we play as the owner. I can't send my non-owner sims to a jewelry shop to buy and an engagement ring. I can't buy a finely aged bottle of nectar for their anniversary dinner. They can't pick up a pizza, because they hate to cook. It's not just the mechanics that have been broken - it's the stories as well.
I've stopped playing with my shops. Half the fun was being able to shop them as a non-owner.
Same with Vet Clinics.
Helmuth Von Gluck hates cooking. When he's tired of eating cheese, he'd like to do more than just stare longingly at the wonderful food on display.
I just had to go around all of my retail store owners once again and send them to the stores to reopen them as they'd all stopped working again. Most had to rehire staff even though I hadn't deleted them. I do clear out NPCs since For Rent and Lovestruck are causing too many to generate, but I avoid anyone hired in my stores.
I use them mostly for my new Sims to purchase collectables, decor, jewellery and produce such as nectar and preserves. So now when I'm creating a new household and I want to send them shopping I'm going to have to go around again and send each store owner to their retail lot and open it again manually. Then go back to the shopper's household and send them shopping.
I have one store which was not owned and I had to get someone to buy it as that was no longer functioning either.
I don't know if it's relevant but it could be worth mentioning incase it can be reproduced, but the wrong potential staff are being suggested too. In the staffing options I'm seeing most of my other Sims that use Register with the Ministry of Labour and are self employed, most are retailers themselves. There's a Barista there too who already has a job. Only 1 or 2 available Sims are on the list. I expect it to be full of unemployed Sims, not business owners or employed Sims. It's really difficult to pick staff this way. It's also showing staff already hired at another retail lot. It may be a separate issue or part of the staffing problem, but maybe relevant. Once the store is opened it's adding other NPC staff along with the Sim I've hired, as it has always done.
I remember @crinrict suggested once to add the employees to a household and save them into your saved households; that way they are not culled; also disable their stories so they don't change jobs; but it doesn't fix the bug of this topic, sadly, but at least will keep your employees the same for that retail/vet clinic
Off-topic: crinrict, I'm quoting your nickname when I talk about your tips and helpful information you share because I wanna give credit to you, but please send me a message if it's not a good idea to ping this way.
@CostaI think I can help with the Vet Clinic, when you go to the vet as a owner, you are the vet, everyone in the household is the vet there is no one sim, that is the vet. On my other save I been using that for my teen sim to be a vet when he is not in school for a while you can treat your dog by just taking the dog to the bed and it will start, though best to do that when the vet is closed though so you don't have customers complaining. If you go to the vet as a child of the vet owner the vets will not show up and the place will auto close, because the owner on lot is invalid.
For the Retail lots, non owned lots auto open. The store will have the last state saved so if the store is closed when you visit, you can't buy anything at the lot. Owners don't have to go to the lot to open it, just use the business pannel in the UI and find your retail lot and click the open button. Also everyone in the household is the business owner, so you can't visit the retail lot as a sim in the same household as a customer. Lots are saved in the same state the owner left it, unless changed remotely by the UI interface.
Edit: I forgot, if you are having trouble getting retail employees make sure you got them hired as owner, and that there are sims in the retail career, since it is a playable career now for young adults and adults. You at least need one sim in retail career to spawn the retail co workers for your retail shops.
