The Satisfying Grind of Running Your Own Store
Having a local shop or a mini-mart is something that I feel is incredibly important to our shared history and community. The owners and workers of places like this, often five minutes or less from your house, become your friendly, everyday strangers. They are the people who know everything about your eating habits and perhaps your moderate drinking problems. You might even see them twice a day for all your small, immediate needs, like some bread, a pint of milk, or, in this day and age, vapes.
But do we ever stop and think about how they actually run these places? What are their profit margins really like on a bottle of milk? How do they get that one very specialised packet of crisps that you particularly like?
Well, fear not, because Supermarket Simulator might just have all your answers and a great deal more.
An Un-Guided Start to Your Tycoon Career
You start your career as a fledgling supermarket tycoon, but you do so without knowing anything about who you are. Why did you decide to start this specific business? Did you dream of stacking shelves and scanning barcodes as a kid? The game doesn’t say, and I guess, in a simulation game, it doesn’t really matter, but I always love a good story.
It is here where you should be warned: you are thrown into this game with absolutely no instructions, no introductory cutscenes, and no backstory whatsoever. It’s a true sink-or-swim beginning.
You turn up at 8 am to your small, box-like, and completely empty store. Inside this sparse shell, you have two basic shelving units, a checkout desk equipped with a scanner and a till, and a PC sitting on a desk in the corner. An instruction then appears on the screen, giving you one single objective: “Do 25 checkouts.” How you are meant to achieve this, or why, is up for grabs, as the shop is completely empty of things to sell.
Stacking, Scanning, and Mental Arithmetic
By venturing over to the PC in the corner, you can find a “Market” tab. Here, a small number of basic goods are available for you to order and sell. You only have $50 to begin with, and the goods on offer consist of essentials like pasta, oil, bread, or sugar. This meagre amount won’t get you far, but it’s a start, and it’s all you have. The goods, thankfully, arrive instantly in boxes outside the shop. You can then pick up a box, open it, and begin the satisfying, tactile process of stacking the shelves. On my first attempt, I just threw my empty box out onto the street without a care, not realising the consequences. Later, you learn about the importance of proper disposal and packaging, much to the relief of my virtual neighbours.
You also have to set the prices for your goods. There is a recommended market price shown for each item, but it’s entirely up to you whether you go higher or lower than this. Be careful, though, as your customers will soon start to complain if they feel the prices are too high, which can affect your shop’s reputation. When all this is set, you can flip the sign and open the store for business, beginning your very first day.
Now you just need the people to come, and come they do, often in their droves.
When a customer selects their goods, they queue up at the till, and you must manually scan each of the items to get a total. The customer will then pay with either cash or a card. Card is by far the simplest method; you just put in the total on the card machine and ring it up. Cash, however, means you must give them the right change, a task that requires a level of mental arithmetic that I haven’t really used since the 1990s. Get it wrong, and you lose money.
Expansion and Delegation
As the day progresses, customers will complain about the long queues, any rubbish on the floor, or you not having their favourite food in stock. You must make sure to keep the store clean, where you can physically pick up rubbish, mop floors, or clean windows. You won’t get a chance to do this in the early days while you’re running the till on your own, having to wait until the end of the day or before opening the next morning. You also must make sure to keep the shelves full as the 12-hour day rolls on, or you’ll miss out on sales.
With more profit, you can get access to more goods to sell, like fruit and veg, but these require you to invest in scales at the checkout. You can start upgrading the store itself, knocking down walls to make it bigger, and getting fridges for more goods like eggs and drinks. You’ll need more shelves and, eventually, storage space for grabbing boxes of stuff easily.
Then, you reach the most crucial step: you need to think about hiring staff. You can hire people to help with the checkout, to dedicate themselves to stacking the shelves, or even to act as security to stop the shoplifters who will inevitably appear.
Simple Looks, Addictive Hook
Supermarket Simulator is all in the first person and looks fine, but it’s not going to win any graphics awards any time soon. The customers, for instance, very quickly start to look a bit familiar, which makes you think, “Have they got a lot of relations, or do they just need a lot of pasta eight times a day?” I like the simple, clean visuals, and it all works fine.
The sound is also basic; it’s pretty silent at first, until you purchase some in-store speakers and can finally play that sweet, generic supermarket music through them, which adds a lot to the atmosphere.
A Highly Addictive Simulation
The thing is, Supermarket Simulator is incredibly addictive, which is the hallmark of any good simulation game. It has that powerful “let me do just one more shopping day” appeal to it that could, and probably will, consume a hell of a lot of your time. Yes, it is a bit rough around the edges, but the core playability and the undeniable drive to make your supermarket the best in the neighbourhood are something that will keep you going.
If you want to take on the world of convenient food shopping and think you can make your mark, then Supermarket Simulator could be your next purchase.
Important Links
The Viral PC Hit is on XBOX as Supermarket Simulator Stocks Up With a Day One Game Pass Launch – https://www.thexboxhub.com/the-viral-pc-hit-is-on-xbox-as-supermarket-simulator-stocks-up-with-a-day-one-game-pass-launch/
Download Supermarket Simulator (via Game Pass if you wish) – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/supermarket-simulator/9NR0GCBSLDW4/0010
