Retail Business Issue / Business & Hobbies Pack

Dear Sims-Team,

I play many households in one savegame on a rotating basis, i.e. a small community of Sims. I think that's the way it's supposed to be. Therefore interaction in the form of trade between households would be desirable and useful. In The Sims 4 there are many skills and craftable goods and a division of labor and specialisation makes sense.

Unfortunately, there is a problem with the retail stores. If Sim household A produces a product, let's say jewelry, and Sim household B wants to buy it in A's store, this is not possible because the store is always closed, even if it normally has staff in addition to the owner. As far as I know, this is also the case with veterinary clinics. Interestingly, this does not apply to restaurants. It is possible for B to eat in A's restaurant. The owner is not there, but the staff are.

Question 1: Is this a bug that will be fixed in the future or is it intentional?

If it is intentional, the whole retail system makes no sense from the buyer's point of view. Sims can buy things from unowned stores, but those could also be bought in build/buy-mode. Clothing does not have a price tag in CAS. If Sims make things that you can't normally buy or that are better quality, when Sims with high skill make them, it gives an advantage if other Sims can buy them and an incentive to run a store or leave home to go shopping.

Question 2: Will the problem persist with the new pack where you can operate fitness studios or spas with the ticket counter? If these were also closed to other played Sims, it wouldn't make sense to repurpose community lots into private businesses. The same applies to stores at home.

Bonus question: Will the tattoos that you put on NPCs as a tattoo artist remain, just like outfits that Townies buy in the boutiques are added to their outfits and they all walk around with the same outfit? Then, after a while, all the townies in my game would walk around tattooed from head to toe? A nightmare.

I hope that especially trading manufactured goods between played households (Question 1) will be possible in near future, so that the economy has a benefit and running businesses is meaningful for a community of played sims.

I would like to mention that leisure activities are what the Sims need most to escape the boring everyday life. So the hobbies pack hits the spot. I'm curious to see what other hobbies the pack has to offer beyond pottery.

Best regards