Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life puts you in the shoes of a new farmer who has zero experience when it comes to anything related to the job. The game provides this experience as authentically as possible by teaching you very little when it comes to the game’s mechanics and leaving a lot of it up to self-discovery. I mean, informational tutorials don’t pop up when you’re farming in real life, right? One such mechanic is the player-owned shop, and so, here is how you can open your own shop in Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life
How to Sell Your Own Items in Your Shop
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How to Sell Your Items
In Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life, there are three methods to sell your items for profit.
- Ship them via the shipping bin on your farm.
- Sell them to Van when he visits on the 3rd and 8th of every month.
- Open up your own shop and sell them directly to the residents of Forgotten Valley.
Each method has benefits and drawbacks. The shipping bin on your farm allows you to ship items instantaneously as opposed to having them store them for a later opportunity. The downside is that Takakura is rather picky and will only allow crops and animal products to be shipped. Not even fish make the cut. The other downside is that you are not paid instantly and will receive your gold later on.
Van is the most popular method of selling your items in the game. This is because Van is happy to buy everything from you. You name it; he has a price. Not only this, but as your friendship rises with him, he becomes more agreeable to haggling for both higher selling prices and lower buying prices. The downside to selling to Van is that he only comes to town twice a month, and you will have to store all of the items that you wish to sell in the meantime. Not a huge deal, it just means you will more than likely have to make a few trips to your farm and back to his shop when he is in town.
The last method, opening your own shop, is a method that players often miss and do not realize that it is even an option in the game.
Related: How to Haggle With Van in Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life
How to Open Your Own Shop
If you’ve ever purchased an item from Van before, which is likely, you will know exactly where he stands in town when he opens shop. If not, it is the location in the middle of town, between the Lei-Over Inn and the Bluebird Cafe. The location is also distinctive due to the paved circular pattern on the ground.
As long as Van has not already set up shop in this location, when you stand in this location, called the Plaza, an option will appear and ask if you wish to open shop. If you select ‘yes,’ you will then be able to choose which items you wish to sell to other residents.
After that, it’s just a waiting game. Residents of Forgotten Valley will pass through town and potentially come to see what you have for sale. When you have finished selling your wares, you can close shop by either pressing ‘B’ to cancel selling your items, or you can leave the area.
Pros and Cons of Selling Via Your Shop
When it comes to setting up your shop in Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life, there are both a range of pros and cons to be considered.
Pros
- Selling items at a discount to residents will increase your friendship level with them.
- Any item can be sold in your shop. You are not limited like you are with shipping.
- You can set up shop anytime and do not have to wait to sell items.
Cons
- Residents expect a friends and family discount and will often only agree to purchase if you provide this.
- You can only sell one of each individual item at a time.
- It can be time-consuming to sit and wait for potential sales, and with a time-based game, it can be more efficient to spend your time elsewhere.
Whichever method you choose to sell your items, making money in Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life becomes easier as time goes on. Whether that be through hoarding sheep, or farming hybrids, players will end up with more money than they need in the end.
