How To Open The Shopping Plaza On Harv’s Island In Animal Crossing: New Horizons

TL;DR

  • Each shop costs 100,000 bells with daily donation limits requiring strategic planning
  • Leif offers exclusive cooking and farming items unavailable elsewhere on your island
  • Cyrus enables unique furniture customization that bypasses normal DIY limitations
  • Katrina’s fortune readings provide hidden gameplay benefits beyond daily predictions
  • Storage access through Tortimer creates essential quality-of-life improvements

Mastering Harv’s Island shopping plaza begins with understanding the fundamental access requirements and navigation process that many players overlook during initial exploration.

The Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2.0 expansion introduces a dedicated commercial district on Harv’s Island, transforming what was previously just a photo studio location into a vibrant merchant hub. This strategic addition provides permanent homes for visiting characters who previously only appeared randomly on your main island.

To initiate this feature, visit your airport and select the option to fly to Harv’s Island. Critical preparation tip: ensure you carry at least 100,000 bells to immediately begin funding operations without wasted trips. Upon arrival, Wilbur will mention Harvey’s unusual absence—follow the freshly laid path circling right of the main residence to discover both Harvey and Harriet awaiting your arrival.

One of the new hairstyles

One of the new hairstyles

Harvey will outline his ambitious vision for establishing a premium shopping plaza while subtly hinting at the substantial financial investment required from you, the island representative.

The funding mechanism employs a systematic approach: scattered Lloid gyroids mark each potential shop location, with every vendor requiring exactly 100,000 bells to activate. Critical limitation alert: after contributing to your first chosen establishment, further donations become impossible until the next calendar day, creating a sequential unlocking pattern that demands careful prioritization.

The selected shop becomes operational after the following day’s reset, meaning strategic planning should account for this 24-hour activation delay. Pro tip: coordinate your shop unlocking schedule with your weekly visitor patterns to maximize efficiency.

Kicks

Kicks

Interacting with each Lloid provides deliberately cryptic hints about the corresponding merchant’s specialty. For veterans of the Animal Crossing franchise, these characters represent beloved returning faces, but new players benefit from this detailed vendor breakdown starting from the plaza’s lower-left corner.

Katrina’s fortune-telling establishment delivers daily luck assessments that actually influence hidden game mechanics—encountering specific fortune outcomes can trigger rare visitor appearances or affect item drop rates.

Katrina

Katrina

Several vendors establish permanent operations for previously transient island visitors. Sahara’s outlet offers an exclusive selection of flooring, wallcoverings, and rugs unavailable through normal shopping channels.

Sahara

Sahara

Tortimer, the former mayor from earlier series installments, provides remote access to your home storage system—an incredibly valuable quality-of-life feature that becomes especially crucial when utilizing adjacent customization services.

Tortimer

Tortimer

Cyrus and Reese’s Re-Tail service enables specialized furniture customization that normal DIY workbenches cannot replicate. Items displaying a distinctive icon in their shop interface require this exclusive service, with customization costs charged in bells rather than standard customization kits.

Cyrus and Reese

Cyrus and Reese

Leif’s botanically-focused shop stands out as particularly essential since it supplies components necessary for both the new agricultural farming systems and cooking mechanics introduced in this update.

Leif

Leif

Redd

Redd

Seasoned players should prioritize Leif’s nursery first due to its direct connection with the update’s core cooking and farming features—delaying this access slows progression in multiple game systems simultaneously.

Critical mistake avoidance: never visit Harv’s Island without sufficient funds, as this wastes valuable daily progression opportunities. Additionally, misunderstanding the sequential unlocking system often leads to inefficient vendor acquisition orders that delay access to crucial services.

Optimization strategy: align your shop unlocking sequence with your current gameplay focus. Design-oriented players benefit from Cyrus and Reese’s customization services early, while completionists should prioritize Katrina for her hidden collection benefits.

Pro tip: The storage access provided by Tortimer creates an unexpected gameplay loop when combined with Cyrus’ customization—you can retrieve items directly from home storage for immediate modification without inventory management headaches.

Action Checklist

  • Accumulate minimum 100,000 bells before traveling to Harv’s Island
  • Navigate right from arrival point to discover Harvey and Harriet
  • Select initial shop based on current gameplay priorities (Leif recommended)
  • Return daily to fund additional shops in strategic sequence
  • Utilize Tortimer’s storage with Cyrus’ customization for efficient furniture management

No reproduction without permission:SeeYouSoon Game Club » How To Open The Shopping Plaza On Harv’s Island In Animal Crossing: New Horizons Complete guide to unlocking Harv's Island shops with strategic priorities and hidden benefits