give harv a chance

It’s been awhile since I last sat down to play Animal Crossing. Yeah, I know, there have been updates, but after making 10 million bells in the stalk market, I’m retired! I don’t need to get back into that rat race.

That’s what I told myself anyway. 

It started innocently enough. I wanted to check in on the massive update and start cooking some food. I opened the coffee shop, traveled to new islands on the boat, increased my storage, and took care of all the weeds that had grown in my absence. (I know I’m the Resident Rep, but come on - nobody can take care of those while I’m away?)

I couldn’t figure out where to find flour or other food ingredients and didn’t care to look up stuff on the internet, so I set that aside and continued meandering through the new content and agonizing over where in my house to put the one hanging light I came across, until I remembered Harv’s Island was supposed to have a way to set up permanent shops for the traveling salespeople who set up in front of Resident Services. Could there be more lighting fixtures there? Was it worth it to go all the way to Photopia again? Let’s just say I hadn’t spent much time there in the 300 hours I’d played so far, so I went grudgingly.

My bar was set low. These other updates were cool, but what am I going to do with coffee? Drink it? Puh-leez… my days of manual labor are over, and it’s just there to look cool in my hand while I run around the island. The aforementioned ability to hang stuff from the ceiling was exciting, but the time it takes to find new items is soooo agonizing. Unlike the hanging lamp I purchased, I was not, as they say, hooked.  

When I got to Harv’s, though, I found an empty field full of promise - and a purpose for the 10 million bells I’d saved up so carefully. I decided to open the shops left to right, one by one, and about halfway through questioned all my life choices because I looked nothing up on the internet before I began the journey. Then, while scouring the internet for the details on the shops, I had a hard time finding everything I was looking for about the shops in one place. I figured I’d pop them here for safekeeping to benefit you as well as me. Please enjoy.

i’ve spent $3 million bells and counting with this llama

Building the shops

• All shops cost 100,000 bells but I noticed subsequent shops were costing a little less - like 98,720 bells instead. As you build more shops, a mystery benefactor is going to help you fund them. I guess every bell counts…  but you can’t fork over a little more? I should have drawn up a profit-sharing contract….

• You can only fully fund one shop per day. I dumped all the necessary cash in one go, so I’m not sure if you can spread your donations across multiple shops. Or why you would torture yourself so. And I’m saying fully fund - not open. Once you hit 100,000 bells for one shop, the other Lloids will cease to accept your money.

• Harv will install an ABD on the island so you do not need to act like me and bring over your life’s savings on a rickety sea plane. 

• Some of the shops help you maximize the benefits of others - namely, Tortimer’s storage and Reese + Cyrus’s customization shop. But mostly, who cares what order you build them in, because you can only build the one per day and it’s really not worth maximizing your real life around a video game (says the woman who found and drew 900 koroks).

• All shops open at 5 a.m. daily. 

• Shops with goods for sale restock weekly on Mondays; redd will also restock the next day if you buy something.

i want to be as spry as tortimer when i grow up

Shop details (clockwise from bottom left of the co-op field)

• Name: Katrina 

• Occupation: Fortune teller

• Closing time: 1 a.m.

• What’s for sale: For $1,000, she’ll read your fortune. I’m going to tell you right now, I’m not charting out the science behind this, because IGN already did and because as you’ll see I’m going to be spending all 10 million bells somewhere else. For $1,000, she will also evaluate one of your friendships. If it’s in need of a boost, she’ll offer to perform a special friendship blessing for another $10,000.

• Special notes: Katrina’s spells are actual things said backward. It’s cute.

• Name: Sahara

• Occupation: Rug salescamel

• Closing time: 12 a.m.

• What’s for sale: Two walls, two floors, and four rugs - which you can see before you buy. They’re more expensive than they would be at your island, but to me, the time saved not in that terrible dialogue menu is worth it. You also won’t be able to purchase anything here with her tickets. 

• Special notes: Sahara won’t be at the co-op if she’s at your island that day. Even Sahara does not defy time and space. 

• Name: Tortimer

• Occupation: Speed traveler and personal storage butler

• Closing time: 11 p.m. (he needs his beauty rest, at this age)

• What’s for sale: Actually, nothing! Tortimer is here to give you total access to your home storage. You can’t even tip him.

• Special notes: According to my research, he does some weird stuff with acorns in the fall. Look out.

• Name: Reese and Cyrus (they come as a pair) 

• Occupation: Cyrus customizes furniture; Reese, no offense, seems to be there for moral support.

• Closing time: 12 a.m.

• What’s for sale: Reese charges $1,000 to $5,200* per item to customize furniture. He can work with most leaf items, including those you can customize yourself (goodbye, stock of customization kits, and good riddance).

• Special notes: *This is based on my observation so far. Also, note that you’ll be able to tell if ONLY Cyrus can customize an item because when you talk to him and look through your inventory, the leaf icon for the item will have his logo on it.

• Name: Lief

• Occupation: Plant salessloth

• Closing time: 11 p.m.

• What’s for sale: Lief offers double the wares he usually does on your island - two edible plants/produce, four kinds of shrubs, and four varieties of seeds. He’ll also go weed your island for 100,000 bells. Even he will admit, that’s steep, so feel free to let your island run wild before paying for this service. 

• Special notes: Weeding service isn’t instant - your weeds will be gone the following day. And, he’ll leave them in the recycling box inside Resident Services, so you can still use them for crafting or sell them back to him if you’re a monster.

• Name: Redd

• Occupation: Art dealer

• Closing time: 1 a.m.

• What’s for sale: Redd offers two art pieces per day. While he loves to tell you otherwise, they’re not always legit. Still, it’s a much faster way to build your museum inventory than waiting for him to sail round to your hidden cove. 

• Special notes: Redd also offers a drawing for 500 bells per ticket. You can score many of the cute treats and accessories you see your villagers walking around with. So far I’ve seen these number-and-item combos.

• Name: Kicks

• Occupation: Shoe salesskunk

• Closing time: 12 a.m.

• What’s for sale: Kicks offers an expanded inventory of accessories, offering three shoe varieties, three sock designs, and five different bags weekly. 

• Special notes: Just like the other co-op owners who visit your island, Kicks can only be in one place a day, so he won’t show up at Harv’s if he’s already in your town square.

Did you end up funding the whole co-op, or pick and choose? Got more tips or questions? Come chat on IG @trendprescient.