About Shops[]
Description[]
Shops are an integral part of any working theme park. They satisfy the needs of guests just as they would in real life. They also count towards a substantial portion of your theme parks monthly income.
Uses
Shops are all about keeping guests taken care of. If you decide against placing too many shops because either because you don't want to manage them, or just don't want to build buildings around them, you will notice a sharp decline in guests.
Mechanics[]
Customer Satisfaction is Everything!
Shops not only satisfy your parks need for money, they also satisfy the guests need to spend it. Guest AI is prone to purchase things when they are happy about their experience, but that feeling will quickly die if they are not even able to purchase anything.
Competition While similar shops in the same location may seem like a great idea, it's not. While it may be effective to place shops of different categories slightly near one another, setting a Hotdog Squad right next to a Chief Beef disrupts business for both shops. Some guests will crave a hamburger specifically, but others will just crave food in general. For those general shoppers, they will just go to the nearest food shop and once they eat, one shop makes money, and all the others don't. This seems to be mainly categorical (i.e. a food shop will not disrupt the business of the drink shop next door), so a small building with a couple shops won't hurt. Just make sure they are all selling from different categories.
Location
A shop can easily make a couple hundred dollars per month if there is at least 1 ride nearby. However, a well-placed shop can make 2-3 times it's operating cost, and a very well-placed shop can cover the costs of operating other nearby scenery, special effects, and possibly even rides. To achieve this, you will need to meet some high demands. You will need a shop with very little to no competition nearby, fantastic scenery, and guests who are in a fantastic mood as they are passing by. A good strategy for this is to deck out the scenery around the exit of a well liked ride, and place a shop right off the path.
It is also important to note that if a shop is in a bad location, or has a lot of competition surrounding it, you will notice a loss in profits, followed by several same typed shops closing until only 1 is left. This is done when a vendor quits their job. (More on that in the Vendor section)
Pathing
Paths are paramount to the flow of foot traffic. Just think back to any Simcity game to come out over the past 10-15 years and you'll know exactly what that means. If the path is too narrow, people congest. Since they can't walk through each other, people just come to a slow crawl. This disrupts literally everything in the surrounding area, guests can't make it to ride cues, and shops lose money because the customers they already served can't get out of the way for the customers still in line. If your guests cant go anywhere, they can't spend any money. If you have a heavy traffic area, widen your paths, or even bypass the section, or build a roundabout so that the guests NOT shopping or entering/exiting rides they can go around instead of through.
Path scenery (so far just benches and trash bins) are also a good investment. Note that that janitors take close to twice as long to empty a trash can as they do cleaning litter, but guests will pretty much always use a trash can so long as one is nearby and not full at the time. By that logic, 3 pieces of liter will take longer to clean than emptying 1 trash can. By putting trashcans around, you will see people in a generally better mood at all times because everything looks pristine. This also boosts the mood of guests, which increases the likelihood of purchasing from your currently located shops.
Note for wider paths: If you want quality lighting, it's suggested to use 2 medium paths parallel to each other, with lighting in the middle and on both sides. The brightest light only makes it about 1/3 the way across a 10 meter path.
Extras
These can be found in the center tab of most shops, and they are expandable/collapsible sub-menus located directly beneath the item you have for sale. These items are typically things you can add to your menu to increase its appeal to customers ( Ketchup, Mustard, Lettuce, etc.). Like in the RCT games, these increase operating costs, and it would be cost effective to increase the price slightly to compensate. With each extra, you have a check box to turn that extra on or off, as well as a drop down menu to select how much the customer gets ('a little' will add $1.50 per extra to operating costs, 'some' will add $3.00, and 'a lot' $4.50). These will get reactions from customers saying you either put too much on, or are stingy with it.
Vendors[]
Vendors are the man/woman behind the counter inside of the shop. They can be promoted and trained just like any other staff, however, unlike the RCT franchise, this is done from the Staff Menu in Park Management. You can also train them by selecting the shop, then using the small person-icon in the shop overview to select the vendor inside.
Training
Training increases productivity, staff happiness, and also increases their wage expectations. At level 1 a staff member starts at -, and will be unhappy with anything less than - $150.00. To train to level 2, it will cost $150.00. After training an employee, there is a cooldown period before you can train them again. The cost of training a staff member to the next possible level (maximum of 5) will be the same amount of their minimum expectation for their current level. To train from 2 to 3, it will cost their minimum salary at level 2.
Training is not done to the shop itself, but rather the vendor. It is recommended them happy, because if they quit and the shop closes, re-opening will mean a new, level 1 vendor.
Happiness
Staff happiness is determined by their salary, training level, and workload. Workloads impact a vendor's happiness directly. If it is too high, they get stressed, and if it is too low, they get bored. If an employee is over/under-worked, they will slowly become less and less happy until they eventually quit, forcing the shop to close. By training a staff member, you are obligated to increase their pay, and their increased productivity counters their workload, which, in turn, increases their happiness. Be careful with this when training an employee simply because they are unhappy. If they're bored, increased productivity will only bore them further, because they will have even less to do. To increase happiness on a bored vendor, add nearby rides and scenery to increase foot traffic toward their shop.
**Note** If you do not intend to place priority passes on your rides, do not build Information Shops. At this time they only sell priority passes, and the lack of activity will drive an employee to quit their job, no matter their training level.
Food[]
Chief Beef[]
Menu
Chief Burger XL
- Price - $12.00
- Extras - Ketchup, Gherkins (Pickles), Mustard, Lettuce, Cheese
Chief Burger
- Price - $8.00
- Extras - Ketchup, Gherkins (Pickles), Mustard, Lettuce, Cheese
Cost
- Purchase - $200.00
- Monthly Running Cost - $400.00
- Vendor Salary - $150.00
Hotdog Squad[]
Menu
Jumbo Hotdog
- Price - $12.00
- Extras - Ketchup, Gherkins (Pickles), Mustard, Onions, Chili Sauce
Hotdog
- Price - $8.00
- Extras - Ketchup, Gherkins (Pickles), Mustard, Onions, Chili Sauce
Cost
- Purchase - $200.00
- Monthly Running Cost - $400.00
- Vendor Salary - $150.00
Mexelente[]
Menu
Taco
- Price - $8.00
- Extras - Cheese, Jalapenos, Sour Cream, Guacamole, Salsa
Taco Grande
- Price - $12.00
- Extras - Cheese, Jalapenos, Sour Cream, Guacamole, Salsa
Cost
- Purchase - $200.00
- Monthly Running Cost - $400.00
- Vendor Salary - $150.00
Monsieur Frites[]
Menu
Small Fries
- Price - $8.00
- Extras - Ketchup, Salt, Vinegar, Mayonnaise
Medium Fries
- Price - $12.00
- Extras - Ketchup, Salt, Vinegar, Mayonnaise
Cost
- Purchase - $200.00
- Monthly Running Cost - $400.00
- Vendor Salary - $150.00
Tikichiki[]
Menu
Spicy Chicken
- Price - $9.00
- Extras - Ketchup, Mayonnaise, Mustard, Chili Sauce
Plain Chicken
- Price - $8.00
- Extras - Ketchup, Mayonnaise, Mustard, Chili Sauce
Coconut Chicken
- Price - $8.00
- Extras - Ketchup, Mayonnaise, Mustard, Chili Sauce
Hot Wings
- Price - $9.00
- Extras - Ketchup, Mayonnaise, Mustard, Chili Sauce
Cost
- Purchase - $200.00
- Monthly Running Cost - $400.00
- Vendor Salary - $150.00
Drinks[]
Cosmic Cow Milkshakes[]
Menu
Strawberry Cosmic Shake
- Price - $5.00
- Extras - Marshmallows, Fudge Pieces, Ice Cream
Vanilla Cosmic Shake
- Price - $5.00
- Extras - Marshmallows, Fudge Pieces, Ice Cream
Chocolate Cosmic Shake
- Price - $5.00
- Extras - Marshmallows, Fudge Pieces, Ice Cream
Cost
- Purchase - $200.00
- Monthly Running Cost - $200.00
- Vendor Salary - $150.00
Gulpee Energy[]
Menu
Gulpee Energy
- Price - $5.00
- Extras - Ice
Gulpee Energy XL
- Price - $8.00
- Extras - Ice
Cost
- Purchase - $200.00
- Monthly Running Cost - $200.00
- Vendor Salary - $150.00
Gulpee Slush[]
Menu
Pink Slush
- Price - $6.50
- Extras - Ice
Blue Slush
- Price - $6.50
- Extras - Ice
Orange Slush
- Price - $6.50
- Extras - Ice
Green Slush
- Price - $6.50
- Extras - Ice
Cost
- Purchase - $200.00
- Monthly Running Cost - $200.00
- Vendor Salary - $150.00
Street Fox Coffee[]
Menu
Americano
- Price - $7
- Extras - None
Double Espresso
- Price - $8.00
- Extras - None
Cappuccino
- Price - $7.00
- Extras - None
Mocha
- Price - $7.00
- Extras - None
Decaf
- Price - $6.00
- Extras - None
Cost
- Purchase - $200.00
- Monthly Running Cost - $200.00
- Vendor Salary - $150.00
Gift Shops[]
Hat's Fantastic[]
Products
- Crown - $12.00
Pirate Hat - $12.00
- Baseball Cap - $12.00
- Sci-Fi Helmet - $12.00
- Cowboy Hat - $12.00
Cost
- Purchase - $200.00
- Monthly Running Cost - $300.00
- Vendor Salary - $150
Just a Momento[]
Products
- Snowglobe - $15.00
- Crystal Ball- $15.00
- Sci-Fi Radio- $15.00
Cost
- Purchase - $200.00
- Monthly Running Cost - $300.00
- Vendor Salary - $150
Looney Balloons[]
Products
- Red Balloon - $9.00
- Orange Balloon - $9.00
- Green Balloon - $9.00
- Yellow Balloon - $9.00
- Pink Balloon - $9.00
Cost
- Purchase - $200.00
- Monthly Running Cost - $300.00
- Vendor Salary - $150
Services[]
Information[]
Products
- Priority Pass -
Cost
- Purchase - $200.00
- Monthly Running Cost - $300.00
- Vendor Salary - $150
Restrooms[]
Cost
- Purchase - $200.00
- Monthly Running Cost - $100.00
First Aid[]
Cost
- Purchase - $200.00
- Monthly Running Cost - $100.00
ATM's[]
Cost
- Purchase - $100.00
- Monthly Running Cost - $50.00
Admissions[]
Ticket Booths[]
Cost
- Purchase - $0.00
Park Entrance[]
Cost
- Purchase - $10.00
Entertainment Point Cost[]
Cost
- Purchase - $10.00