Shop it Up! Walkthrough

Welcome to the Shop it Up! strategy guide on Gamezebo. Shop it Up! is a time management game/building simulation played on pc created by HipSoft. This strategy guide includes tips and tricks, helpful hints, and useful strategies to complete Shop it Up!

Shop it Up! – Game Introduction

General Tips

Shop cubes saying “Coming Soon” or “Space Available” indicate that you can open businesses now, while cubes with locks cannot be used until later on.

In the top right-hand corner you can see how much time is left and how much bonus money you will receive. At the top of the screen you can see your current amount of money. At the bottom of the screen your goals for the current level are listed. By hovering over one goal you will get a more specific description.

When you finish a level the money you have earned is added to your career earnings, but is NOT taken over to the next level. Only the bonus money whose amount depends on how quickly you finished the previous level will be available in the next level.
With regards to the goals it is important to say that it’s not sufficient to just fulfill them, the fulfillment has to be permanent so to say. Just as an example, if one goal says that you need a Toy Shop with the highest rating, you cannot close this Toy Shop after fulfilling the goal. If you do so nevertheless, the goal will be unchecked again and has to be fulfilled again.
As soon as you enter any menu of any shop the timer will pause, so there is no need to hurry while scanning a shop’s menu.
In the beginning of each level the mobile phone will ring. Click on it to receive you goals for that level.

Gift-wrapped items sell for $10 more than ordinary items, but you can in no way influence whether a customer wants a gift-wrapped item or not.

Customers

The thought bubble with the silver coin indicates that a customer wants to pay. Click this bubble in time, otherwise the customer will leave and the rating of the shop will go down.

The big spender really can make a difference. Click on him when he’s in front of your most expensive shop, and activate the most expensive advertisement for this hop at the same time. This way you make the most possible profit out of this special customer. Apart from that the big spender also increases the rating of any shop he visits by 3 stars. You should also be aware of the fact that there are four different types of big spenders.

If a customer loses an item a small portrait of him or her will appear at the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. Pay attention to details in the clothing and find this customer in your mall. If you click the correct customer, the rating for each of your shops will go up by 1 star.

Angry customers can only be cashed up by you or executive staff members.

Shops

The costs for flair items, decoration, and advertising are the same for each type of shop. Inventory items, staff, and the construction of shops however differ greatly in costs.
Decoration items: Flooring increases the rating of any shop by 1 star, wallpaper by 2 stars, and a sign by 3 stars.
Flair items: Rope Lighting increases the rating of any shop by 2 stars, billboards by 4 stars, and the sound system increases a shop’s rating by whopping 6 stars.
In each shop you are able to add two inventory items, a front and a back display. Both items increase the rating of any shop by 5 stars, but they have to be repurchased on a regular basis. As soon as shop is not fully stocked anymore, the rating will go down. This is displayed by a flashing “Sold-out” lettering inside the shop, and a decreasing rating or the related shop.

Staff members raise the rating of any shop by 3 stars, no matter how qualified they are.
Super Shops: An ordinary shop becomes a super shop when it is fully flaired (all three flair items installed), fully decorated (sign, wallpaper, flooring), staffed (it does not matter which staff member you hire), fully stocked (both inventory displays) and reaches a rating of 50. Products sell for more money than they would in a normal store.

Staff

A payroll indicates that a staff member demands salary. If you decide to not pay it or simply cannot afford it, the staff member will leave the shop, which will decrease that shop’s rating, and you will have to hire that staff member for the full price again.

If an employee gets sick, you can either approve some time off, or not. In this special case the employee will continue to work, but the rating of the shop will decrease nevertheless.
If an employee wants to attend a training conference you can either approve or disapprove. If you approve you will have to cash up customers yourself for a short while, but the shop’s rating will go up when the employee returns. If you disapprove there will be no consequences.
If one of your staff members asks for vacation you can click the related thought bubble and approve or not approve. If you do not approve, the staff member will leave and the rating of the shop will go down. If you do approve, you have to take care of customers yourself until the employee returns.

Cashier: This staff member is the cheapest one in each shop. Cashiers are only able cash up regular customer payments though.
Assistants: Apart from regular customer requests they are also skilled enough to prepare gift-wrapped items.
Managers: Managers are also able to approve personal checks, but are more expensive to hire than assistants and cashiers. Apart from that managers will also notify you beforehand if the shop they are working at will go out of stock soon – you are then able to restock early on for a discounted price.
Executives: These are the most expensive staff members you can hire, although they are well worth the money. Admittedly, they do not offer inventory restocking for discount, but they halve costs for each sort of advertisement, and they can deal with customer complaints.

Symbols for advertisements appear at the top right-hand corner of any shop. This is an easy way to check if and which advertisement is currently active at any shop.

50%-off-Sale: This advertisement only costs $100 ($50 with an executive), and increases the rating of any shop by 1 star permanently. However, products will logically only sell for half of the original price while this ad is running at a shop.
Newspaper Ad: This ad costs $500 ($250 with an executive), items are still sold at normal price, and it increases a shop’s rating by 3 stars. Furthermore it lasts a bit longer than the 50%-off-Sale.
Radio Ad: This ad costs $2,000 ($1,000 with an executive), and it increases the price of products sold at that shop by 25% for the duration of the ad. This ad also increases a shop’s rating by 5 stars.
Television Ad: This is both the most expensive and effective ad. While it costs $5,000 ($2,500 with an executive), customers will pay 50% more at a shop with a television ad, it lasts much longer than the other ads, and it increases a shop’s rating by 7 stars.

Level Tips and Walkthrough

At the beginning of each level it is very helpful to wait as long as possible until you receive your goals. Every dollar counts, and the longer you wait until the mobile phone pops up, the more money you can earn without the timer running.
You always have more than just one goal to fulfill. This means that it is always a good idea to set priorities at the start of each level. Think carefully about which goals will take the longest or are more complicated, and try to fulfill those at first.
If you have only executives and managers as staff in any level, and one of the goals is to hire only cashiers or assistants, fulfill this goal at the very end of each level. This goal is not expensive and can be met within seconds, but if you fulfill it right at the beginning of a level, you cause yourself an unnecessary amount of clicking.
If one of the goals says that you have to make a large number of sales from all your shops it is very important to activate advertisement on a regular basis for any shop that has not many customers at that moment.
Be aware that you cannot replay levels later on. If you really want to finish every level within the green time frame you have to retry levels immediately.

Level Additions and hints:
North Entrance:

Level 2: Food Shops
Level 3: Inventory items
Level 5: 50% off Sale

Balcony:

Level 7: Fabrics Shop (Specialty Menu), Movie Shop (Entertainment Menu), Book Shop (Books &Gifts Menu)
Level 8: Cashier
Level 9: Gift-wrapped items
Level 10: Payroll
Level 11: Rope Lighting (Flair)
Level 12: Assistants
Level 13: Newspaper Ad
Level 14: Hat Shop (Apparel Menu) – This is also the first level where you HAVE to close a shop. If this happens, always close the cheapest of your current shops, because you don’t get any money for closing it anyway. In this way you stay as profitable as possible. Also, if you have to open a new shop with a high rating always activate ads here to increase its rating quicker.
Level 15: Big Spenders

Mezzanine:

Level 16: Flower Shop (Books and Gifts Menu), Game Shop (Entertainment Menu), Gift Shop (Books and Gifts Menu)
Level 17: Billboard (Flair)
Level 18: Casual Mode unlocked
Level 19: Pet Shop (Specialty Menu), Lost and found items
Level 20: Employee vacation
Level 21: Sporting Goods Shop (Recreation Menu)
Level 22: Pay by Check
Level 23: Radio Ad

East Wing:

Level 24: Kitchen Shop (Home Furnishings Menu), Watch Shop (Music and Electronics Menu), Kids Clothing Shop (Apparel Menu), Toy Shop (Specialty Menu)
Level 25: Managers
Level 26: Manager Restock
Level 27: Sick Employees
Level 28: Sound System (Flair)
Level 29: Television Ad

South Terrace:

Level 31: Baby Shop (Home Furnishings Menu), Gadget Shop (Music and Electronics Menu), Fitness Shop (Recreation Menu)
Level 32: Executives
Level 33: Super Shops

Central Plaza:

Level 36: Magic Shop (Entertainment Menu), Men’s Clothing Shop (Apparel Menu), Housewares Shop (Home Furnishings Menu)
Level 37: Angry Customers
Level 38: Training Conference
Level 39: Music Shop (Music and Electronics Menu)

West Courtyard:

Level 41: Camping Shop (Recreation Menu)
Level 42: Hobby Shop (Books and Gifts Menu)
Level 43: Women’s Clothing Shop (Apparel Menu)
Level 44: Surf & Ski Shop (Recreation Menu)

Atrium:

Level 46: Antique Shop (Home Furnishings Menu)
Level 47: Electronics Shop (Music and Electronics Menu)
Level 48: Art Gallery Shop (Entertainment Menu)
Level 49: Jewelry Shop (Specialty Menu)

After Level 50 there will be no new features or shops, but you will be able to revisit previous departments of the mall. Every department will be exactly the way you left it after the first 50 levels, but new goals will appear. I will list those goals below which makes it a bit easier to plan ahead in the first 50 levels with those later goals in mind.

North Entrance:

Level 51: Fully decorated and stocked Kids Clothing Store, Run a radio ad and make 40 sales at a candy store.
Level 52: Make 60 sales, own a Candy Store with a rating of 45 or better, add sound systems to 3 shops, hire an executive in a Kids Clothing Store. (Hire the executive at last, it’s very expensive and does not make much profit in contrast to fulfilling the other goals).
Level 53: Own a Super Kids Clothing Store, own 3 fully stocked shops, earn $500 from a Candy Shop.