Businesses

* See also Existing Businesses ( seen in Solo Games )
* See also Types of businesses City could have
* See also Rapture_Economy
* See also Advertisement In Rapture
* See also Money_In_Rapture
* See also Economics_of_Production
* See also Recycle_and_Repair
* See also Utility_Stuff
* See also Rapture Agriculture
* See also Marketing_Hype
* See also Industries_For_New_Rapture
 "THE STORE WHERE BARGAINS REIGN" ( an old sign, real ... ) 
"No Gods, No Kings, Only Bargains !!!" ( A sign you could have seen in Rapture )
== BUSINESSES YOU WOULD HAVE IN RAPTURE ==
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Most Businesses Were Not Large :
Rapture has a small Population ( a total like 20000 Rapture population about 20000 - Suggested by the Novel author. ), really only that of a town. No mega industries where there are NOT enough customers for 'Economy of Scale' productionhttps://www.conservapedia.com/Economies_of_Scale to operate. Modern Urban Society which Rapture represents has too many different products in evidence to have most manufactured in Rapture. Large industries like Food and Energy (and Air) would be there, but few others. 
So SMALL BUSINESS is the general rule.
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Why not something similar in Rapture ?
Many Apartment rooms have no kitchen, and in many cities the People eat out for many meals. 
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Real Business Was Tight ( Lean and Mean ) :
Not only were REAL city shops small operations like Pharmacies/Drugstores, but they also doubled up by selling basic consumer/convenience items, and often had a small lunch-counter/soda-fountain. ( REAL City Shops being of larger number for far more customers, could be more specialized and still keep in operation. Rapture, though is not very large, and thus the same commercial dynamics may not operate ).
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==A City Has Many Types Of Businesses :==
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Antiques and Antiquities :
Things brought to Rapture as personal possessions ...
Unfortunately 'one-of' Assets creation for the game ( being unrealistic to duplicate these unique Objects within Rapture ) makes the effort to recreate such things ( intricacy/elaborate/subtle which takes alot of Player Asset Creation work ) have limited utility in-game. 
Famous art pictures ( being mostly '2D' copied from the Internet ) might be easier to produce ( but what would they be doing in Rapture ?? ) The usual Copyright or use issues for other images apply.
Doctored images, caricatures, mimic'd ...
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There was a kitchen behind that wall making the food, but the Self-Serve theme was of interest to 'People On The Go'. It was a labor saving approach to the typical small restaurant business. 
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Hotels - often the name for semi-permanent residence ( very common in cities in earlier part of the 20th century ).
Hotel Monsenor could have been one of Rapture's earliest buildings, used to house staff for the construction, and even Ryan himself when he visited during that time.
"Atlantic Hotel" - a good name for one of the Residential Hotels that Rapture would have ( versus a vacation/business short-term type establishment - there being no OUTSIDE of Rapture to have city visitors, or 'transients', as real cities have ).
See picture of Atlantic and Pacific Hotels next door to each other in old LA.
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CHEMICAL PLANT(s) :
Of course WHAT chemicals would be used in huge quantities ? So, such a company to be large, might have to make dozens of chemicals - a more versatile than the huge mono-chemical plants we see on The Surface.
Raw materials coming from Stockpiles ( previously brought in from Surface ). Only a few local Raw Materials are available.
Reprocessing Recycled Chemicals (ie - Metals)
Production of Many Intermediary Chemicals Used in Various Manufacturing Processes
Organics ( used in making many Plastics )
Chemical Fertilizers
Solids, Liquids and Gases.
Unfortunately, the Processes to make various chemicals are not all easy, and there would NOT be the Economy of Scale of Surface Production. The costs would generally be far higher than on The Surface. 
Many production process would require disposal of dangerous fumes. That being where Closed systems were not possible, or noxious useless byproducts had to be disposed of. So, some chemical plants would be close to the Ocean surface where processing air can easily be pumped in and out of the reaction facility ( likely located on the side of Mt Ryan ). Cleanup of the facilities would be an important activity.
Many Chemical Production Processes require a great deal of Energy. Fortunately, Hephaestus does produce a great deal of fairly cheap power.
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Insurance Company(s) in Rapture ? :
Their business is usually based on carefully collected statistics to set the rates, with expectations of stable times.
One of the 'middle-men' typical in business. ( Make Sure you "Read The Fine Print" to see if they consistently maintain security assets for policy payouts, and what Deductibles ... )
Post Kashmir-Chaos sign - "Bankrupt - In Liquidation" ( usual thing when things go unpredictably wrong )
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I Don't Recall : Did we ever see a Barbershop in Rapture ? :
ADAM can't really shape hair. ( They tried, but even Fontaine shudders when he thinks about THAT ... )
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A Barbershop Quartet (of Fish) Cartoon Commercial for one of the Fishery companies that Fontaine strong-armed the owners out of ??
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Dr Smith's Weather Theater  (Old Rapture) :
Simulates Weather which changes in Moments :
* Antarctic Ice Field ( where 20 below is 'balmy weather' ), a Snowy Blizzard
* Hurricane/Tornado
* Humid sweltering jungle
* Hot desert with beating sun, sandstorm
* Rain thunderstorm, lightning, hail
* Hot and cold, humid and dry, blasting wind or stultifying dead air ...
* Protective clothing and headgear is provided, Patrons tied into their seats for their own protection
Another one of those 'Let them eat Surface' presentations, partially funded by Ryan to make the Citizens a bit less enamored with The Surface World.  Makes them glad of Rapture's controlled  78 degrees ...
Dramatic theme music included in the performance.
Perhaps an enterprising New Rapturian will find the establishment and recondition and reopen it.
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Lawyers in Rapture :
Being some of the most tenacious and damaging of Parasites, Ryan probably would have limited their numbers ( possibly by just having fewer laws and loopholes that the Parasites on the Surface live off of ). To have City-scaled businesses and business deals/Commerce, you HAVE to have a certain amount of legal paperwork for contracts, etc ... ( But these could be simplified to virtually be standardized fill-in documents - NOT requiring a lawyer ). For trials, having 'advocates' to takes sides when a situation is subject to Laws is another requirement ( Just having arbitrating Judges can simplify many cases, but advocates/case-organizers would still be wanted for something more than running a Popcorn Stand ). Not having an overburden of laws and regulations would be the goal - not complete absence of legal Due Process.
Ryan : "I Will Have Only One Law ..." That does NOT mean there are NO LAWS in Rapture - An impossibility for a City to exist WITHOUT.
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== Business Names (Columbia) ==
Feebley & Stupey(tm) Maker Of Fine Cravats
Publishers of Substandard 'Corrected' Science Fiction for the Masses (Since 1893)
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No 'Motels' ( Motor Hotels ) in Rapture :
'Bathyspheres' were too few. ( Wrong name for what are really supposedly mini-subs, except for the Cable Driven Transit pods we actually used ). So sorry, no American-style 'Automobile' Culture could grow up in Rapture. Writers 'Attempting' to parallel Surface World and ignoring the things which made Rapture different. 
There is also not that much 'distance travelling' for most of the population of Rapture ( The primary part of Rapture is only a few miles across ). There are outlying areas to possibly go to, but 'not that much there' to see ( and at 600+ foot Depth, it is pitch dark outside in the Ocean -- contrary to what the game shows ).
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Entertainment - Enhanced Sensory Experience (ESE) :
Hallucinogenics (temporary duration) used for amusement rides and the theaters/shows -- in 'ethics free' Rapture ( Voluntary only - something like taking LSD to 'enhance' the experience )
The Vaporium (?) '3D' Projection (" The Colors Man !!!! ")
How soon before the users start getting permanent negative effects ( upon the brain and whatnot ) ?
Kinda like in the 1960s people realized that too much looking at Black-Lights (those posters) would destroy your eyes ( the UV light used ).
The unfortunate effects were few enough to not have many customers have to check their ticket stubs for the real conditions of the 'limited warrantee'.
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Fun Easter Eggs : 
Business : S. Todd Esq. Sausageshttps://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/sweeney-todd-demon-barber-fleet-street ( Perfect for chaos era Rapture as it is never quite clear what exactly is IN many of the sausages ). Might be used in one of the "Sullivan Crime Cases".
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Product : Bioshoque ... ( "The Gentle yet Invigorating Soap" - Brought to you by Sinclair Chemical Works )
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Spotti & Vaygue Publishing Publishers :
Producers of fictional materials - Amusing tales which don't quite jibe with the Real World. Came to Rapture in 1946 ( rumored to be escaping from Surface World debts ), and operating for a few years, until going out of business in 1953 ( during the fallout of the Economic Distress of end of City Construction - the Non-Crash Crash ). A variety of 'pulp' books had been published, and some might have survived the Toilet Paper shortages in Rapture (the Chaos).
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Rival Bee-Hive Company : "The Bee's Knees" :
Lots of Agriculture in Rapture, Bee-Keeping and management are extremely important to certain segments of Agriculture ( ones that are based on flowering plants in their crop lifecycles - like fruit trees ).
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H. H. Holmes Medical Teaching Supplies :
That guy in 1893 in Chicago who murdered people in his Deathtrap Hotel, and used quicklime to reduce their bodies to skeletons, which he sold to medical supply houses -- allegedly the book "Devil In The White City" ( being much about the 1893 Exposition ) was something that inspired the setting of Infinite BS. ( He also ran numerous life-insurance scam using various people he murdered. )_
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Ceramics R Us :
Small Terra Cotta (ceramic) Manufacturing Plant in Rapture ( requires a furnace/kiln - doesn't have to be some huge factory )
Terra Cotta is used on the inside of buildings in Rapture ( very little bothered to be used outside, as you couldn't see it ). Carved and molded ( with nice Art Deco repetitive styling ) and glazed with bright colors (and metalized) -- coloring material did have to be imported. Those big slabs of metal on walls you saw in Hephaestus weren't metal, just metalized ceramic surfacing -- which is FAR cheaper to make.
Lots of repairs and remodeling in Rapture to make use of such tilework. 
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Product Catalog (from Multiple Product Makers) - Old (pre-Chaos) and New :
(( Small businesses don't all sell their own goods directly, and use middlemen/retailers for the part of the business they don't have the money/resources/skill for. ))
Jack Hammer's Tool Store
Almost New Shoe Laces - largely stain free - new aglets (tips) guaranteed
Can have fun with all the advertisements for items no longer existing ( 'Ads' still around by time of the MMORPG ) - things from that time period and being Rapture-made, and then with post-ADAM (New Rapture) technologies ( perhaps not to the previous standards/aesthetics and availability ). Alot of advertising hype and 'claims' ( "Let The Buyer Beware ..." hasn't been revoked. )
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Manufacturing 'Storage Crates' :
* Where did all the Wood come from ( pressed synthetic wood made from sea weed ??? )
* Need more styles and colors and sizes ( an easy asset to clone and modify/decorate ).
* Players should be able to label their 'crates' ( and other containers ) which will help when your company grows and you have lots of equipment and spare parts to organize.
* Locks optional (at added expense) -- block access - Normally other players cannot take items placed in containers, but may be able to look at the contents. Also would be way to control access to 'Team' members borrowing thing you would rather NOT have them borrow for their tasks.
* Add Dolly-cart (Handcar Dolly) to list of tools that NPCs can use to move these Storage Crates around...
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Business : Making/Servicing/Operating Vending Machines 
Most product sellers would be small businesses who would 'Contract Out' to someone maintaining the machines used. Expertise in the specialized Vending Machine product would have to be 'spread out' across multiple users. (( NO huge/absurd assembly line making 'vending machines' like the dolt designers in Infinite BS showed. )) Servicing as well as the manufacturing. Likely with "leasing" for the more general machines.
This machine would have chiller machinery (extra cost/maintenance). The extra costs would mean a different customer base than a 'bottle buyer'. 
The Idea is for Convenience to the Customer. Gimmicks 'wear off', so best be in a 'good' location. Possibly used in the smaller Tourism Venues ( versus larger ones which might have their own Bar ).
Hmm, Better Offer Vodka Too ... -- Vodka Booze ( Water and Grain Alcohol ) is Easier to make than passable Whiskey ...
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Green Stamps For Businesses :
With '5' Books ( Google it if you are too young to even know what they are ) you can get a Tonic, and with '7' get a Plasmid from the list of available options ( As usual the 'Prizes' are Cheap Crap worth a fraction of the stamp 'bonus' given for the normal purchases - That WAS part of the gimmick/scheme to get repeat customers ).
Facial Reconstruction surgery Starting at just '36' Books (a $599 Value).
Consider : Your 'Bonus Miles' today are pretty much the same thing.
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Player Phone Memo's :
Advert - "Why carry Fontaine's Brick with you when you can leave yourself Memos on any handy phone ?" 
Memo recordings and retrieval Service ( or even your own private home unit !!! ). Particularly easier when Radio-Phones were the latest Techo-Gadget for Rapture's version of the 'Gold-Plated-Turd' geek squad ( who buy all the overpriced Strawberry(tm) gadgets ).
Record-o-disk. Tired of lugging around several of those huge Accu-Vox recorder things ? Why not just one machine and dozens of small conveniently sized metal (magno) disks ? A whole LOT of messages in just one pocket !!!
"THEN Build a Better Memo Recorder" - Ryan ( who did in the MMORPG ).
Advanced Phones (in Phone Booths) might have started having (small/limited) alphanumeric display screens ( keyboards eventually too ). Such things might work for/facilitate some of the MMORPG game activity interfaces.
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