I'm building a consignment shop. It won't be owned by a controlled sim, just a plain community lot. Do I stock it when I build it? Or does that all happen automatically when it's placed and opened? I'm aware of the issues keeping it staffed and operating and I have Register etc installed for that. I just don't know whether I nshould put stuff in there or leave the shelves and floor empty.

Thank you! I will haul it off to testing as is then.

Park, junkyard, town hall... Those things can be put almost anywhere and still work.

This goes for quite a lot of lot types in this game. Bot Emporium isn't needed either as are the Elixir Store and Nerd Shops. For all these the registers are enough. And unless you're going for the mixology challenges you won't need all the Late Night clubs and bar types, you won't need all the Showtime venues and all the animals parks are useless if you don't have any pets in your town.
The only lot type that I can think of that needs to be present for a certain service to spawn is the Salon for the tattooist. She or he will only appear if the tattoo chair is placed in a Salon. The other lot type might be the graveyard. I don't know whether the mausoleum works properly as a receptacle for tombstones if it is not placed on a graveyard lot.

You mean they will never appear outside that lot assignment? I never knew that. :o

At least they didn't on the lots on which I have placed it so far.
You can use this to your advantage though because now the chair is free for your Sims to use and offer tattoos to your fellow residents. In one of my games I have it on a beach lot and pretend that it's a tourist trap, because my Sims are very low in the tattoo skill . One of my own Sims got all the tattoo fails all over his body that way.

You mean with the consignment rug? That one you stock*. The one with the consignment register you could put on a counter outside and it would work.

* I didn't know the rug did that, put it in my sim's house, and wondered why strangers were coming in and looking at my stuff.

Yes, if you want to have a functional store, you need the Store set Savvy Seller (and ani's version Savvier Seller, which improves gameplay a lot). The rugs, shelves and pedestals allow you to put any buy/build object for sale (and some buydebug items) and have other Sims buy them. As far as I know, you don't need to own the store to use this system. I prefer this rather than the usual consignment store, since this way I can control the items for sale.

It looks like I might have different motivations for building this from some of you. I'm building a place for my sims to buy and sell things that I can style a certain way (like a tienda--a small market in a Mexican-American neighborhood in a small rural Califorfnia town). I don't want to make this a business for my active sim to run (so not using Savvier Seller bits though I'm using a produce cart as much for looks as anything). Is there some reason not to zone it as a consignment shop? Is there a better way to zone it?

You have no real control over what a consignment shop sells, other than what your own families have consigned. I don't have the Savvy Seller, so I don't know anything about how to work it with that, but it doesn't matter how you decorate a regular consignment shop. You can have a register sitting on a counter on an otherwise completely empty 10x10 lot (without even a building on it) and be finding inventions, small electronics, misc. Entertainment items, gems, books, paintings, nectar, metals, or space rocks for sale.

If I'm understanding Naus Allien correctly, if you want to control what the shop actually sells, you could use the Savvier Seller to set up a shop and stock it, and then (in theory) leave it to be run by an NPC as usual.

Otherwise you can set it up, decorate it however you want to, and check back later for things like Time Machines, Harvesters, or video games.

My understanding of the savvy seller shops is that they have to be run by active sims--that if you set up the shop and don't run it yourself, there's nothinhg going on when you visit it. Is that wrong?

I'm not sure I need your control over what's at the shop. The produce carts will make sure that some kind of food is there. Other than that I don't mind taking a risk aas to what's there.

But to return to my other question: given that what I want is a lot with a a consignment register and a couple produce stands on it, is there a different zoning that might work better? I'd like a few other sims to show up there now and then when my sim goes there (I've put in a domino table & a grill & table out back as well). I don't know if I care whether it is open all night. What other factors are there to think about?

I'm not familiar with the original Store set (Savvy Seller) since I've used ani's version for ages. With ani's mod, registers must be owned by someone (Not necessarily the Sims you play with, you can choose any Sim who owns a house in the neighborhood). Then you can hire a clerk to make sure there's someone all the time to ring up customers. You have to place items on the special savvier objects (rugs, shelves, pedestals... anything as long as it has the proper script) and link the special objects to the register. Then you can go with your Sims and manually select things you want to buy. Your Sims will pay and the items will be added to your family's inventory. As a bonus, depending on the mark-up, the Sims who owns the register will earn some money.

Different lots attract sims with different traits. Unfortunately I can't tell you off the top of my head what just having the lot flagged as a consignment shop would get you because normally I add the consignment register to some other lot (the potion shop from Supernatural usually, although I've put it with the art gallery too). I would probably consider flagging the lot as a 'small park' (although I'm not sure if that would have the game decide to hold the chess tournament or neighborhood grill events there) or just as a 'hangout' (though that would give it a closing time) since those tend to attract a fair number of sims.

I found that one of the best ways to keep community lots full is to use Inge's OFB Ticket Machine (http://www.simlogical.com/ContentUp...etMachine02.rar. You can switch it on and off as you need, select the type of Sims you want to go to that lot, and then the machine will actually push Sims to go there (instead of staying all day at home or wandering the streets). This machine has completely changed my experience in community lots.

Tagging it as a consignment store is fine. It is not very high on the priorities list for visitors but people come from time to time.
It is better in any case than elixir store, that one seems to be always empty in towns without witches and alchemists.
Hangout is rather good. A hangout doesn't actually close. It's just that when you place a professional bar there that the bartender will come at noon and leave at 4 am. But the one who'll man the consignment register will leave at 6pm anyway, no matter where you place the register. The elixir register is the one that's manned 24/7.

It doesn't really matter what tag you use for the shopping lot. The only important thing is that you shouldn't use a lot type with closing hours if you intend to place registers there that are permanently manned. This will interfere with the NPC that is working behind such a register and will eventually break the bond between the register and the Sim.

I think that Nikel once uploaded a comprehensive list of all lot types and their special attractiveness. The important value, apart from closing times, is called "intensity". The higher intensity the more Sims a lot pulls to it.

If you want a really busy lot the best bet would be to tag it as a Small Market, for example. You'll need NRaas Traveler while you set up the lot to unlock this World Adventures lot type. You can take this mod out after you've created the lot, the tag will stick. Small Market is one of the most attractive lot types for all sorts of Sims and doesn't have any closing times. The only disadvantage is that it is not on the list that will give you special drinks and food if you place a professional bar.