Shop Schedules
| Shop Schedules | |
|---|---|
| Type | Mechanic |
Every shop in the valley keeps its own hours and takes its own days off, and a wasted walk into town is one of the few genuinely irreversible losses in the game. Pierre shuts on Wednesdays until the Community Center is finished, Robin shuts on Tuesdays, Marnie shuts for the first two Days of the Week, and the Traveling Cart only parks in Cindersap Forest twice a week. Festivals lock almost every door in town for the whole day, whether or not the farmer turns up to the party. A handful of counters stay open late into the night, and the Key To The Town pushes several of them open earlier and later still. Planning a shopping trip around all this is the difference between one trip to town and three.
Overview
The general rule about festivals is the strictest one. On any festival day that starts before the evening, every home and shop in Pelican Town is locked from dawn to dusk, and staying on the farm instead of attending changes nothing. The Sewers, the Community Center, the Movie Theater and the Spa are the exceptions that stay open. Four events break the rule altogether: the Desert Festival, the Trout Derby, SquidFest and the Night Market all leave the town's doors unlocked and let the clock run normally, so those are the only festival days when errands are still possible.
Days off are the other trap. Pierre's General Store keeps a nine to five counter and closes on Wednesdays, which ends the moment the Community Center bundles are complete and the shop starts opening every day. JojaMart runs far later, from nine in the morning until eleven at night, with no days off at all, and then shuts permanently once those same bundles are finished. The Carpenter's Shop opens at nine and closes at five, takes Tuesdays off, closes early at four on Fridays when Robin heads to the Saloon, and shuts entirely on any day Robin is out working on the farm. Marnie's Ranch is the awkward one: the counter runs nine to four and she takes both Monday and Tuesday off, though reading the Animal Catalogue extends the hours and lets the shop work even when she is not standing behind the counter.
The Blacksmith trades from nine until four and only starts taking Fridays off once the Community Center has been restored. The Fish Shop runs nine to five and closes on Saturdays unless it happens to be raining, which is the sort of detail that catches a farmer carrying a day's catch. Once the boat to Ginger Island is repaired the doors open an hour earlier, although Willy's own routine stays the same. Harvey's Clinic opens nine to three, and shopping there is cut short on most days by his own schedule, with Saturdays closed to purchases entirely. The Stardrop Saloon does not open until noon and then stays open until midnight, which makes it the reliable late stop.
Several counters keep unusually long hours. The Adventurer's Guild trades from two in the afternoon until two in the morning. The Wizard's Tower is open from six in the morning until eleven at night. The Desert Trader works from six until two in the morning, and the Oasis and the Casino behind it run from nine in the morning until almost midnight. The Movie Theater, once it exists, runs nine to nine and ignores festivals completely.
The Traveling Cart is the one that has to be caught rather than visited. It parks in Cindersap Forest from six in the morning until eight in the evening, and only on two Days of the Week, which makes those the days to check for rare seeds. It also sets up at the Desert Festival in Spring and at the Night Market in Winter, which are two extra chances at its rotating stock. The Ice Cream Stand only exists in Summer, opens in the early afternoon for a few hours, takes Wednesdays off and closes in the rain.
The Key To The Town rewrites several of these timetables. The Adventurer's Guild, the Blacksmith, JojaMart, the Wizard's Tower and Marnie's Ranch all gain hours at either end of the day, and Pierre's opens for an hour before breakfast as well as its normal stretch. The key does not touch everything, though, so the Fish Shop, the Clinic, the Saloon, the Oasis and the Traveling Cart keep the hours they always had.
Notes
Health check-ups close shops on single days scattered through the year, and each one is pinned to a particular villager. Clint, Robin, Willy, Alex, Marnie, Jas and Gus each have a day when their counter is shut or opens late while they visit the Clinic. Those days are easy to forget because they look like ordinary working days on the calendar.
A few access routes bypass the published hours. The Witch's Hut connects through to the Wizard's Tower, which is how the Tower can be reached after eleven at night or during a festival. The boat at the Fish Shop can be used at any hour once the Key To The Town is in hand, even though the shop counter itself keeps its usual times.
The practical habit is to pair errands with the calendar rather than the other way round. Monday and Tuesday are poor days for animals, Wednesday is a poor day for seeds in the first year, Tuesday is a poor day for building, and Friday and Sunday are the days worth walking into the forest for the cart.
All Mechanics
Every entry in this group, with its key details.
