business profile: Iceberry Cafe // Cloud 9 // Potomac Herbal

venue: residential // home cafe, home bar, AirBnb

location: Potomac Heights

owner: Aura Jackson (managed by Beau Jackson and April Hutchins)

Since so much of my last update took place on this lot, I thought I'd throw together a little lot tour. This lot has grown quite a bit since I showed it off before in a profile for April's cafe. 

As far as the books go, neither the Jackson boys nor April own any of this. They manage it all for their mom. In TS2, Aura owned a fashion boutique, Jolie Jolie, which did exceptionally well until one day when she "sold it" (game glitch) to run for office, a position she still holds today, Treasury Secretary. Then Adrian did well for himself, too, running a very popular arcade. Between the two businesses, their home and vacation home, the Jackson family had amassed somewhere around $400,000 simoleons in net worth, a nice tidy fortune among my sims, probably second only to the Riley family in riches. But the boys won't inherit that for a long while still—although Adrian passed away, I expect Aura to stick around for a long time. 

In TS4, the Jackson family owns two properties now, and this is one which Beau and April manage. (The other is the Adventure Fitness Park in Sierra Nova, which Tyler is working on.)

Because of the way TS4 is—as far as lots go, you get what you get—I ended up packing a LOT of stuff into this lot. I don't prefer to pack this much all into one lot, but there's just so little customization in this game and so much I wanted to do. But if I had it my way, I'd probably split this space into several lots, to function better. The apothecary should be retail, the cafe should be a cafe, and the bar/lounge should be a bar or lounge or maybe even a restaurant. Since I can't do that, it's all residential and functions with mods. 

The home business mods just about work for my purposes. There are a few oddities—like that sims have to "knock on the door" to be let in when they arrive as visitors to the cafe or lounge, because it's technically all a residential home to the game. And typical bar/lounge events can't be planned here. If we could make our own apartments, I'd probably give them a little "PO Box" apartment somewhere and have this lot be a real lounge in game. But we don't have real apartments in TS4. :(

April's cafe I'm sure everyone has seen plenty. My sims come here often for dates and outings, so it's very popular.

The only thing I've changed since its first profile is that, when moving from community lot to residential, I needed to add an apartment above the cafe where Beau, April, and Amber live now. They spend so much time here that it felt like a waste for them to own another house somewhere else. 

It's just a cute and colorful little space. Amber hangs out here most of the day while Beau and April work in shifts, or else Devon might come up to babysit if they're both working. 

The building to the right of April's cafe is a self-explanatory little laundromat. Sims can leave payment on the tables to use the machines. 

The upper floors in this second building are currently empty. 

Building three has a movie theater on the first floor. Sims basically never use the movie screens unless you make them. I should probably start a movie club or something. 

Second floor of the third building is Cloud 9, a bar...

and seasonal hookah lounge with live music in the evenings. On the off-season, the music will come inside. My game hasn't actually been through winter yet, but the instruments need to come inside every time it rains, or they'll break. I assume winter will be the same. I like that detail in the game, but it's kind of a chore to move everything around every time it rains. I wonder if a covered patio might be useful here?

Cloud 9 has a small kitchen, so if I ever got the chance to break up this lot, I could make this building into a functional restaurant. April does have Valerie cook here, occasionally—neither April nor Beau can cook worth a damn, lol! It's also good to have some meals on hand for hotel guests. Bar patrons can order bar and cafe food, too. And April's ice cream, popcorn, and treats are available from the fridges. (Sims can leave payment on the counters. It's not a retail lot, so I can't set things for sale for real, which is kind of a bummer.)  

Third floor of the Cloud 9 building has a couple little studio apartment rooms for rent, for short or long term. They don't have any long-term tenants at the moment. This room has always gotten more short-term action, being above the bar and all.

Now, the fourth building in the back and Beau's passion project is his apothecary. Vicky works with him here. She isn't trained in chemical sciences, but she has some experience with gardening and herbal medicines that she learned from her time on the island. This is a rather new little startup, but they have a one distribution deal with a local market so far (Janie Trudgen's place in Fort Palmetto). 

They intend to focus on distribution sales for the most part, so it's not a huge deal that there are no retail functions on this lot. But they can sell a little on site through the yard sale set. The potions and some of the rare berries, mushrooms, and herbs can fetch a good price.

And hey, look, Vicky's parents would be super proud to know that she dropped out of med school to become an actual drug dealer! 😂

Vicky is an hourly employee at the moment, but I suppose our new-ish gardening career would also suit her profession well.

Finally, as if there wasn't enough here already, this lot also houses my underground train and station set, which is really just for storytelling purposes. Thankfully the sims mostly leave it alone unless I send them down there.

It's a big big lot, but it actually plays pretty smoothly for having so many busy locations crammed onto it. The only trouble I run into is if I try to run the cafe and lounge at the same time, the cafe steals all the customers and the lounge looks empty. I guess my sims really love their coffee!

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