Tom Nook's store upgrades in Animal Crossing on GameCube
Four shops, three thresholds, and one running total. The figures below are the constants the game compiles in.
The short answer
The shop keeps one number: the bells that have gone through it. Cross 25,000 and it becomes Nook 'n' Go, 90,000 and it becomes Nookway, 240,000 and it becomes Nookington's. There is no day requirement, no item requirement, and nothing to buy in particular. Every upgrade takes two days of building work before the new shop opens.
The number is the town's, not yours. Four players in one town push the same total, and it never goes down.
All four shops
| Shop | Sales needed | Open |
|---|---|---|
| Nook's Cranny | None, you start with it | 9am to 10pm |
| Nook 'n' Go | 25,000 | 7am to 11pm |
| Nookway | 90,000 | 9am to 10pm |
| Nookington's | 240,000 | 9am to 10pm |
The figures are the total that has ever gone through the till, not a fresh target each time, so Nookway costs another 65,000 on top of Nook 'n' Go and Nookington's another 150,000 on top of that.
What counts toward the total
- Buying counts for the full price. Anything off the shop floor, and anything ordered from the catalogue, adds exactly what you paid.
- Selling counts for half of what he pays you. Sell Nook a 200-bell fish and the shop gains 100. Most guides do not mention this at all, and it means a fishing run is upgrade progress even though the bells go the other way.
- Nothing else counts. The Able Sisters, the post office, Crazy Redd and the auction all take your money without moving this number.
You cannot bank ahead, and this is the expensive one
The running total is clamped to the next threshold for as long as the shop is still at its current tier. Nook's Cranny cannot hold more than 25,000. Spend 40,000 in one afternoon and the shop records 25,000; the other 15,000 buys nothing.
The tier only changes after the two-day rebuild, so the window where your money is being thrown away is the whole of those two days. Spend big, then wait for the new shop to open before spending big again.
Why Nook's Cranny will not sell you an axe
The first shop hides its tools behind the same sales total. Nothing unlocks them but spending, and every later shop sells all four from day one.
| Tool | Appears from |
|---|---|
| Shovel | From the first day |
| Net | 3,000 bells of sales |
| Fishing rod | 8,000 bells of sales |
| Axe | 12,000 bells of sales |
Being unlocked is not the same as being in stock. The shop picks its tools at random each day out of the ones it is allowed to sell, so an unlocked axe still has to turn up.
What each shop actually stocks
How many of each thing are on the floor on an ordinary day.
| Category | Cranny | 'n' Go | Nookway | Nookington's |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Furniture | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Rare furniture | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Clothing | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Stationery | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Carpet | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Wallpaper | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Flowers | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Saplings | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Tools | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
Three things start at Nookway and never appear below it: the rare furniture slot, which is the one item on the floor drawn from the rare list, the diary, and paint and a signboard. Nookway also swaps one of its saplings for a cedar. An umbrella is added on top at every tier, so there is always exactly one.
When the rebuild happens
The moment the total is crossed, the game books the new shop to open two days later at opening time, mails every player a leaflet about it, and the shop spends the day in between as a building site you cannot enter.
There are days it refuses to start the work. It will not book a rebuild that:
- starts within two days of one of Nook's sale events;
- starts within two days of the last day of a month, which is the raffle;
- starts within two days of the day after the fourth Thursday in November, which is the year's big sale.
So an upgrade earned on the 29th of a month simply waits. Nothing is lost, it just does not get scheduled until the calendar clears.
Nookington's, and the visitor
On a GameCube, 240,000 bells was not enough for the last upgrade. Nookington's also required a player from another town to walk into your shop, which meant a friend turning up with their own memory card.
We removed that requirement. On this site the sales total alone promotes the shop, exactly as it does for every tier below it. Everything else about the upgrade is untouched, and a real visit is still recorded. If you are reading this page for a GameCube or an emulator, the visitor is still needed there.
Knocking after closing
Hit the closed shop door three times with a tool at night and Nook will get up and let you in for the rest of that night. The original game gives you no way in once the shutters are down.
Or read how the Able Sisters work.