Tom Nook's store

Tom Nook's store is the economic centerpiece of every player's town. The store is owned and operated by Tom Nook, the most important non-playable character in the series.

In Animal Crossing: Wild World, Tom Nook stocks items based in Groups (A, B or C). The player's town is designated a group, and items from that group are more likely to stock in the store. Items from other groups will stock as well, but less frequently. The only way to find out what group the player's town has been designated is for them to keep a tally of the number of items from each group. Item Groups do not exist in Animal Crossing or Animal Crossing: City Folk, items are available based on individual towns.

Animal Crossing
Tom Nook's store made its first appearance outside of Japan in the Gamecube iteration of Animal Crossing, as did many of the items sold at his store. The store was randomly located on the map of each town, but, like the post office, could only be found in the 'A' acres. The store offered furniture, clothing, tools, flowers, tree saplings, carpet, wallpaper, paint, and sign boards in exchange for Bells, the currency of the Animal Crossing world.

At the beginning of each game, the player will have a part-time job at Nook's Cranny, to help pay off their mortgage. This will involve making deliveries, writing letters, and meeting the residents of the town. While working for Nook, the work uniform is obtained. This outfit is rare in that it cannot be obtained from anywhere else, but it is worth nothing.

After finishing the tutorial part-time work, the player is able to sell various items to Tom Nook in exchange for bells. In many respects, these transactions form the core of the game experience.

Animal Crossing: Wild World
Wild World also featured Nook's store randomly placed, but as the acre system was discarded for this title, the store may be located anywhere in the town. Furthermore, it will always be accompanied by Mable and Sable's clothes shop directly to the east.

Several minor changes were made for this title. The sign board item is no longer offered, though other tools have been added. Nook also does not sell clothing in this title, except via catalogue; one must purchase shirts and other accessories next door from the Able Sisters.

Shampoodle was also featured in Nook's shop in Wild World, operated by Harriet as a hairdresser in the Nookington's upgrade.

Animal Crossing: City Folk
While the store is once again located randomly, it is no longer tied to the Able Sister's shop. Store hours for the Nook'N'Go upgrade were changed, with the store now remaining open until 1am. Tom Nook's Point System was revised to include a gift exchange feature, so that points can be exchanged for rare items. The Shampoodle was moved from Nook's to the city in this title.

Interestingly, this title also features the thus-far unique ability to have Nook downgrade his store. Thirty days after the player obtains Nookington's, as he/she are exiting the store, Nook will ask if the player favors good hours, a balance, or variety. The player's response will cause him to downgrade to Nook 'n' Go, downgrade to Nookway, or keep Nookington's, respectively. The phrasing of the question is confusing. Any change, if requested, will happen a week later. If you changed your store, Tom Nook will ask his survey again, eventually. This is how it works, whatever the player chose, that is what it will be downgraded to
 * Good Hours- Nook 'n' Go
 * Balance- Nookway
 * Variety- Nookingtons
 * Nothing Much/Sorry, No- Nook's Cranny

Special Features
These are the special features that Tom Nook's Store can provide.

The Turnip Stock Market
A noteworthy item that Nook will buy is the turnip, an item that may be purchased by the player from Joan on Sunday mornings between 6am and 12pm (noon). This particular transaction is notable because the price Nook will pay varies from day to day, forcing the player to follow the Stalk Market.

The Catalog
Aside from selling items in the store, Nook also gave the player access to their personalized catalog, from which to order items that the player had held in their pockets. Anything that was ever held there will be featured, but rare items, fossils, fish, etc. cannot be ordered. When purchased, an item will arrive by mail. Only five items may be ordered at a time between mailings.

Monthly Lottery
Main article: Lottery In Animal Crossing Nook offers a raffle for three rare items on the last day of every month. These items can only be obtained through the monthly raffles. One entry for a chance to win requires five raffle tickets. Tickets are given to you by Nook during the month after the purchase of an item in the store (not for items ordered through your catalog). The tickets are only good for the month they are labeled for but can be used in the future if saved. Nook will only give out raffle tickets for purchasing certain items. Items that will give you a raffle ticket are clothes, umbrellas, furniture, wallpaper, and carpet.

Tom Nook Point System
Main article: Tom Nook Point System When buying items in the store in Wild World and City Folk, Players are awarded Nook Points. For every 100 Bells spent, the Player earns 1 Nook Point. However, this is not cumulative: i.e. buying a pack of seeds at 80 Bells gives ZERO Nook Points, buying two for 160 Bells will still give ZERO Nook Points since they were purchased separately.

Nook Points serve to reward Players for shopping at Nook's, offering discounts and prizes for their loyalty.

Methods for gaining points
The easiest method for accumulating points would be waiting for when Tom Nook has a "5 times Point Day". These days, which are announced on the town message board, any item will award 5 times the normal point value. A normal purchase of an item at 100 bells will now give the player 5 points during these days. Items ordered from the catalog will work as well. During these times, a moon will give you 1,600 points. This means, to get Platinum membership, you must pay 400,000 Bells. That would normally get you 4,000 points, not even enough to reach Silver membership.

A smaller boost will be given to players who visit other town's and access their system. Instead of 3 points awarded, 5 will be given.

Nook's Cranny
Nook's Cranny is the first of Tom Nook's stores, in Animal Crossing, Animal Crossing: Wild World and Animal Crossing: City Folk.

For Tom Nook to expand his Nook's Cranny shop into a Nook 'N' Go, the Players will need to spend at least 25,000 bells at Nook's Cranny.

In City Folk, Nook's store supplies a wallpaper, a floor, a flower seed, medicine, two pieces of furniture, three tools and some writing paper. 'Nook's Cranny' is a parody of 'nook and cranny', meaning a small corner or hole. The store itself resembles a shed, made with wooden planks and held together with metal sheets. In fact, it is even stated that Tom Nook's shop may be Tortimer's old gardening shed before he became mayor. It is the only one of Nook's shops without an automatic door.

Nook'n'Go
Nook 'N' Go is the second of Tom Nook's shops in the Animal Crossing Series. For Tom Nook to expand to this shop, the Player will need to buy 25,000 Bells worth of stock at Nook's Cranny and play the game for at least 8 days. This shop is also the one that is open latest, and earliest (From 7:00am - 11:00pm) (Animal Crossing Gamecube and Animal Crossing City Folk). In Animal Crossing: Wild World, the store opens and closes at the same time as the other stores. Nook 'N' Go also appears in Animal Crossing: Wild World and City Folk.

Nookway
Nookway is the third expansion of Tom Nook's shop. For it to open, you need to spend 65,000 Bells at the previous Nook stores combined. It has a wider variety of items to choose from. This shop follows Nook 'N' Go. It is the second shop to have an automatic door. In Animal Crossing: Wild World, Nookway may or may not be the final shop for the player. See Connection problems for details.

Nookington's
Nookington's is the largest expansion for Tom Nook's shop. In this expansion a whole new floor is opened up where furniture, wallpaper, and flooring is sold. Also, on the top floor Timmy and Tommy replace Tom Nook. In Animal Crossing: Wild World, after Tom Nook expands into Nookington's, The Shampoodle will also move into it to provide hairstyle makeovers for players at the cost of 3,000 bells. To get Tom Nook to expand into Nookington's, the player must spend 240,000 bells and have a friend shop at the store. This shop has an automatic door. In Animal Crossing: City Folk, you do not need a friend to shop at Nookway, and you only need to pay 150,000 bells for Nook to upgrade to Nookington's.

Connection problems
To upgrade to Nookington's, the player must spend 240,000 Bells at Nookway, and a friend must buy something in the player's town as well. This creates problems for those who do not have a friend that they can connect with, as they will be unable to upgrade. There is no other way to get Nookington's, though the problem can be solved by exchanging friend codes with another player over the internet. Online forums concerning the game will generally feature several people looking to travel and make new friends. On City Folk, it is not a requirement for a friend to visit.