Shops

Retail is the first and most fundamental service required by citizens. Shops are created with the Retail zones from the Commerce tab. We have three densities:

- Low density shops include mom and pop stores, markets, minor grocers, local bars, family restaurants, cafés and the like.

- Medium density shops include groceries, large restaurants, small malls/large shops, large restaurants, large pubs, and similar buildings.

- High density shops comprise mostly of urban malls (compact, 60x60m but multistory).

All shops, regardless of their size, sell lots of groceries (either as raw food items like fruits and vegetables, or as processed food like pizzas, burgers, popcorn, etc.) and they are the main consumer of the Food Industry.

The way Retail functions is similar to other services, regardless of the fact that Shops are the only private-owned business branch. This means that each Shop produces an area of service coverage, extending through the road network nearby. More and higher density shops provide better quality service. But be careful - retail is a resource that has demand/supply ratio, and you can easily go over the line and create oversupply! This is dangerous for the prosperity of retail, since there's currently no way to sell it outside the city (it doesn't create tokens as other thinks). Look in the Resource tab (right from Population), freight subtab, in the bottom - there you can see retail demand/supply. Try to keep it in the middle. Sometimes the location (or type of shop) creates an oversupply of Retail Goods while providing inadequate retail services.

What you need to do is build few shops, and spread them out in your residential areas. Retail isn't affected by freight or passengers, so you need not worry about putting a shop in the middle of the block on a small street. As your city grows and you start creating high density residential areas, you can create some malls and retail zones, but still, spread them out to create a network. Think of it in means of coverage - the Satisfaction overlay will help you with that (right-hand side of the screen, satisfaction-shops). When the streets light up in green, your coverage is perfect.

Again, currently ONLY residents need retail.

Here is a small table:

Burger shop

Mall