I like Pam, turn off Shop Mode, via the Options - General Settings tab. But I have found it's safe and fairly easy to delete the contents of the Featured Items folder.
How To: Delete and clear the FeaturedItems folderIt is safe to delete all items in this folder. To keep the thumbnails from coming back. Try these steps.
1.) Go into the FeaturedItems folder, and highlight all the files and delete them.
-- Press Ctrl-A together to delete the items.
2.) Go back to the Sims3 Folder and select the FeaturedItems folder.
3.) Right click and select properties.
4.) Select the Security tab.
5.) Click the Edit button.
6.) Under the Permissions for Authenticated Users, find the word Modify and check mark it.
-- This will check Modify, Write and Deny and will prevent anything from being written to this folder.
7.) Click Apply or Ok.
8.) Select General tab, under Attributes, select Read-Only and click Apply or Ok.
--- If you would like to see reference photos, please see the link below.
Preventing of In-game Store-Pictures
http://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2011/12/tutorial-turning-off-ingame-store-and-preventing-loading-of-pictures.html ✽ Please Note: This may cause slow loading or the game to crash on exit. Needing to use Task Manager to close out the game. It is recommended if this happens to just delete the FeaturedItems folder before or after each play session.
Hope this helps,
MrsFlynn