Ideas

Create jobs for residents.

Make it easier to get a shop.

Make more "/mall"
such as
/mall yellow
/mall orange
/mall cyan
/mall black
/mall white
/mall grey
/mall pro
^which is for mayors and their assistants to buy items for a discounted price

 

First, your question about resident jobs:
You can always ask people in your town, or everyone else if they have jobs they want done.
Some people might want others to help them gather materials for builds.
Ask for job offers by using the /trade channel in game, or offer your services in the trade forums


And then, the mall/shop question:

There's already 4 player malls. /mall blue, /mall red, /mall green and /mall purple, so there are already plenty of shops.
I do, however, agree that the inactive shops should be put up for auction, since it's been a year since the previous shop auction. But it is up to Deity to decide when that will happen.

If you are looking for any specific items, you can use the market page (mall prices) to see if any shops have the items in stock.
Market page

Simply choose the item you're looking for, then you'll get a list of shops that carry the item, the prices they charge or pay for it, the amount you get and the amount they have in stock. (If they are out of stock, the price will be blank)


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