Pao Pao Shops Guide: Every Merchant, Price and Weekly Restock

Almost every shop in Pao Pao is a merchant you talk to in the City, and most of them lock their better stock behind restaurant stars. The market stalls sell a limited amount of each item and restock every Monday, the furniture and equipment sellers never run out, and outfits, tools and vehicles are one-time purchases. Before you pay full price for Cake Mix or Strawberry, check the Secret Merchant on Saturday.

Every Shop at a Glance

Opens At is what you need before the shop’s menu appears. Most shops are open from the start; individual items inside them unlock later.

Every shop pays and charges in coins except two: Zippy trades outfits for Tickets you win at the arcade, and Rusty trades outfits for Shells he pays you for junk.

How Weekly Stock Works

The Vegetable Shop, Fish Shop, Resource Shop and Seed Shop sell a limited amount of each item and restock every Monday. At each restock, the shop rolls a fresh amount for every item from its Stock per Week range, so most Vegetable Shop items come back with anywhere from 40 to 79 units. Leftover stock doesn’t add up: the new amount replaces whatever you didn’t buy, so there’s no point saving a stall’s stock for later.

Locked items still get stocked. A star or skill requirement only decides whether you can buy the item, and nothing is spent when you meet it. Once you earn the star mid-week, the item is already on the shelf.

Prices and stock odds stay the same in every season, so you never need to wait for a better time of year to buy.

The Kitchen Equipment Shop, both decor shops, the Home Equipment Shop and Haze never run out, so you can buy as many copies as you want. The Tool Shop, the outfit sellers, the Vehicle Shop and Brock sell each item once.

Vegetable Shop

The vegetable merchant in the City sells cooking ingredients. The cheap basics are available from the start, and the rarer ingredients unlock as your restaurant earns stars. The recipes guide shows which dishes use each one.

Cake Mix and Strawberry come in much smaller batches than everything else, so check the Secret Merchant for extra stock and a lower price.

Fish Shop

The fish merchant sells the fish you’d otherwise have to catch, which saves a trip when a recipe needs a fish your nearest water rarely gives. He doesn’t sell Tilapia: buy it from the Secret Merchant on Saturdays or catch it yourself (see the fishing guide).

Resource Shop

The resources merchant sells building materials for restaurant expansions and town repairs. The restaurant stars guide lists how many of each you need.

Secret Merchant

Once your restaurant has 1 star, the Secret Merchant sets up at the market every Saturday. He’s the only merchant who sells Tilapia, Marble and Maple, and none of his items need stars, so he also gets you Cake Mix and Strawberry before the Vegetable Shop unlocks them.

His stock changes every week. Each item has its own Chance Each Week to be in stock, so half of his list is a coin flip, and Stock is how many he brings when it shows up. Usual Price is the cheapest regular shop that sells the same item, with what that shop needs before it will sell it to you.

The best deals are Cake Mix at 100 coins instead of 250 and Strawberry at 100 coins instead of 150. Skip his Chili Pepper (35 coins, against 25 at the Vegetable Shop) and buy the Improved Sprinkler from him only if you haven’t reached the Farming skill level Haze asks for, since Haze charges 600 coins. The five cakes are only sold here.

Clothing Shop

Toby, the tailor, sells outfits for coins. Each outfit can be bought once, and most unlock with restaurant stars.

Arcade Prizes

Zippy at the arcade trades outfits for Tickets, which you win on the arcade machines. Each prize can be bought once.

Rusty’s Shop

Rusty buys junk for Shells through his Recycle junk option, then sells outfits for those Shells. Each outfit can be bought once.

Trash you reel in while fishing sells to Rusty for 10 to 17 Shells a piece (see the fishing guide), so his cheapest outfit takes 9 to 15 pieces. Hang on to it and sell it in one go.

Vehicle Shop

Nancy at the post office opens her Vehicles menu once you have 1 star. Each vehicle can be bought once.

Home Equipment Shop

Milo, the scientist, sells machines for your home under Home and Garden Equipment once your restaurant has 4 stars. You can buy as many as you want.

Brock’s Information

Brock at the bathhouse sells tips about the townsfolk under Buy information once your relationship with him reaches level 2. Each tip reveals one thing a townsperson loves, so buy the tips for the friends you’re working on and skip the rest. A tip only unlocks once you’ve built a little relationship with that person, each one can be bought once, and the menu disappears after you’ve bought them all.

Decor Shops

The two decor merchants sell furniture and decorations by category, and neither one ever runs out.

The Interior Decor Shop has 222 items for 50-1,500 coins. 36 are available from the start, 114 unlock with restaurant stars (up to 6 stars), and the rest unlock as you level your skills: 20 with Foraging, 18 with Fishing, 17 with Farming and 17 with Restaurateur.

The Exterior Decor Shop has 128 items for 50-1,100 coins. 38 are available from the start and the other 90 unlock with restaurant stars, up to 6 stars.

Shops Covered in Other Guides

These shops have full price lists on their own pages.

• Seed Shop (merchant, City): 12 items for 10-100 coins. Restocks every Monday. See the farming guide.
• Farm Shop (Haze, Forest): 12 items for 150-600 coins. Never runs out. See the farming guide.
• Bait Shop (Croc, City): 16 items for 10-50 coins. Croc starts with 40-59 of each and doesn’t restock on Mondays. See the fishing guide.
• Kitchen Equipment Shop (merchant, City): 30 items for 300-4,500 coins. Never runs out. See the tools guide.
• Tool Shop (merchant, City): 19 items for 250-3,250 coins. Sells each item once. See the tools guide.

Other Merchants

• The newspaper seller in the City sells one piece of gossip a day for 300 coins. The first one also teaches you the Carp Roll recipe (see the recipes guide).
• Two more merchants in the City change the look of your home and restaurant through their Home Renovations and Restaurant Renovations menus.

Selling

Sell prices never change with the season, and nothing sells for more than a shop charges for it. Most store-bought goods sell back for about half: Rice costs 10 coins at the Vegetable Shop and sells for 5, and Strawberry costs 150 and sells for 75. Maple and Marble sell back for exactly what the Secret Merchant charges.

The fishing guide lists what every catch sells for, and the farming guide ranks crops by profit. The Fishing perk Merchant raises what the Fish Shop merchant pays.